It would come as a surprise that it is only in the last century or so that Sweden has receded from the global arena of warfare in its efforts to minimize conflict and tragic warfare. Housed in an elegant façade of trailing white capped in the navy blue of a dome, few visitors would anticipate the brutal realities the exhibits within are attempting to illustrate.

The journey begins with the Sweden of the 16th Century on the third floor within the three story complex, still actively involved in warfare within Europe with its primitive jawbone clubs and crossbows. The second floor fast forwards 200 years to look into Sweden’s precariously protected position of neutrality during both World Wars. Fingers pressed against cool glass, peer into the preserved skeleton of the Siemens and Halske T52C German Shift Cipher machine used by the Nazis for communications with Norway from Sweden. The exhibit will introduce you to the mathematician Arne Beurling who was an unexpected savior and key gear in the system to the Swedes double crossing the Nazis. The Trophy Chamber is a collation of spoils of war, banners from countries defeated and conquered such as Russia, Poland and Denmark.

The Raoul Wallenberg Room is a tribute to the man who quite singlehandedly saved and protected thousands of Hungarian Jews, though he is known to just a few looking into his work. Ink seeped into wallpapered walls painted over with scenes of war from the Middle Ages to present times, glass cases protecting fraying thread and lost hope captured in a single article of clothing, the Arms Museum is a touching reminder of what could have been for all these lives lost in an instant. As you end the tour with the extensive coverage of modern tanks and spidery drones, it almost seems as if history will keep repeating itself yet all we can do is to hope otherwise.