Erik and I went to an exhibit at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis last weekend. It’s called “Tomte: the Gnome, the Myth, the Legend.”
And, it is delightful!
A tomte, short for gårdstomte, is a spirit that watches over farmsteads in Sweden. They are often depicted as tiny old men with long beards and tall, pointy, red hats, though there have been some variations on their headwear.
The tomte exhibit is spread throughout the Turnblad Mansion, which is attached to and part of the American Swedish Institute.
Erik and I have been to the American Swedish Institute before, but it’s been many years (pre-pandemic, for sure). You enter through the modern addition, which features a gift shop and a cafe called “FIKA,” which is the Swedish version of a coffee break. From there, you go through a hallway to enter the Turnblad Mansion.
While we were there to see the Tomte exhibit because we both have Swedish ancestry and Erik’s mom collected tomten, I was immediately agape at the opulence of the mansion and its furnishings. (I didn’t remember it being so grand.) I took over 100 photos, most of which were of various furnishings and fixtures of the building, and I could have taken more.
The dining room contains a long table set with a holiday feast. Of course, the food is fake because this is an exhibit, but it immediately struck me how much creativity it took to make what’s on this table, which was an indication of what was to come.
Underneath the table, a tomte slept with a cat on a straw bed.
From the dining room, we entered the den, and I was sidetracked from the exhibit by the kakelugn, a tile stove so decorative that it was the focal point of the room. There are kakelugn in many of the rooms throughout the mansion, each one a different design, all of them impressive feats of artistry.
Here’s another kakelugn, this one on the second floor in the library.
While exploring the main floor, we went through a hall on the way to the kitchen where I spotted a vignette of fabric cookies on a plate, a couple of mugs, and a pottery vase containing stalks of wheat. I had to pause to take a photo because it reminded me so much of the way Erik’s mom decorated her house. She had pottery vases everywhere with grasses and twigs in them, just like this.
Note that the “cookies” are handsewn, more evidence of the creativity of the exhibit designers.
In the kitchen, we discovered a GIANT bowl of porridge with a pat of butter on top, more handiwork from the exhibit designers.
Porridge is traditionally put out in the evening as a sign of appreciation for the tomte, with the pat of butter being particularly important. One story has it that a tomte got so angry at not finding the pat of butter that he killed the farmer’s cow, only to be embarrassed upon finding the pat had melted to the bottom of the porridge. Oops.
The tomte eats the porridge, leaving an empty bowl for the family to find in the morning. Sound familiar? It should. Many of the tomte tales influenced traditions around Santa Claus, like putting out cookies and milk.
In the pantry off the kitchen, there were several tomten tucked on shelves, like this one wearing a crown of candles.
As we made our way through the rooms downstairs, we passed through the Great Hall (at least that’s how I think of it) that features a three-story fireplace facade and a grand staircase with magnificent wood banisters with carved, winged lions.
The detail in the wood carvings in the structure and furnishings of the Turnblad Mansion suggest the craftsmen (most likely men, given the home’s construction between 1904 and 1908) were at the peak of their profession and likely (hopefully!) were paid well for their work.
Interestingly, according to a sign discussing the history of Swan and Christina Turnblad and their daughter Lillian, it wasn’t clear how much the family stayed in the mansion because they had a nearby apartment they also lived in. The mansion is so big that if I were living there with only two other people, I’d feel like I was rattling around in the place, with there being a good chance of not seeing the others.
Also, seriously, how long does it take to dust all that wood? (Yes, yes, they would have had servants, but the mansion was donated to the American Swedish Institute in 1929, so someone at the Institute has had to do the dusting in all that time.)
But, I digress.
At the top of the grand staircase, there are stained glass windows, two of which can be seen in a photo above. There’s a large, multi-paned window of what looks like a village square full of people. Below this are two smaller stained glass windows featuring knights, making this the second time in a year that I’ve seen knights in Minneapolis.
There’s a library on the second floor, which I mentioned before in reference to one of the kakelugn. The tomte exhibit continues throughout the second floor, but I wanted to point out a charming little scene I found on one of the shelves between the books.
The second floor tomte exhibit features publications written about tomten and connections between tomte and other Christmas traditions, like Santa and the julbock, or Christmas goat, who started out as collecting money, then transitioned to giving gifts.
It also discusses the Sami, the indigenous people of Sweden who herded reindeer.
On the third floor of the Turnblad Mansion, there is a ballroom, because what self-respecting mansion doesn’t have a ballroom?
In a room off the ballroom, there are handcraft activities set up for visitors, including cutting tomte out of paper to make a chain.
Also on the third floor is a large bathroom with an enormous skylight window above the bathtub. In the bathtub, a tomte is enjoying a bubble bath, with the “bubbles” being clear glass Christmas ornaments.
This scene perfectly expresses the fun the exhibit designers must have had in creating the Tomte exhibit. (Can I say, I’m just a little envious?)
Even though this blog post is loaded with photos, I have barely touched upon everything there is to see at the American Swedish Institute and in the Tomte exhibit, which runs through January 26, 2025.
The exhibit is child-friendly and there is a children’s play space on the lower level, so I highly recommend taking children to see it.
Visit the American Swedish Institute’s website for information on hours and admission.