Nya Djurgårdsvarvet – a video guide to the past and the present

Nya Djurgårdsvarvet, a shipyard on Djurgården, the green island in central Stockholm known for its museums and parks, has launched a digital video guide to make its long history and ongoing activities more accessible to visitors. With a smooth web app, visitors can now explore the shipyard at their own pace and enjoy fascinating stories in short films, reached through signs with QR codes.

About Nya Djurgårdsvarvet

Nya Djurgårdsvarvet is a historic shipyard in Djurgårdsstaden, the old shipyard quarter on Djurgården. Its history goes back to the 1860s, when it replaced the earlier Lothsack shipyard from 1712. Today it is run by the Nya Djurgårdsvarvet Foundation with a clear vision: to protect and care for Sweden's unique fleet of classic wooden boats and to preserve the craft traditions needed for their maintenance, restoration and new construction.

The shipyard is a living workplace where visitors can step into the workshops and see boatbuilding up close. There is a boat hall, joinery, timber store, paint shop, engine workshop and electrical workshop, all in one place. The shipyard is also a meeting place for people interested in maritime history, entrepreneurs and wooden boat enthusiasts.

Why a web app?

Djurgårdsvarvet is a unique place where visitors can experience Swedish maritime history and boatbuilding as it happens. Over the years the shipyard has been extensively restored and has become an active centre for boat care and new builds. To let more people discover its rich history and the exciting work going on today, Nya Djurgårdsvarvet decided to create a digital guide.

The solution: a video guide that tells the shipyard's story

With QR codes placed around the shipyard, visitors can now watch video stories about the history of the place and its current activities. Instead of booking fixed guided tours, visitors can explore the shipyard at their own pace and get a vivid insight into the daily work.

The web app has two guides: a large collection of "lies" – more or less true tall tales linked to the world's longest Liars' Bench, which is also here at the shipyard – and a new video guide in which the shipyard's CEO, Gustaf Bråkenhielm, takes visitors through its different places and activities, from the old days when steam launches crowded the quay to today's innovative projects where used electric car batteries are converted to power ferries – by way of the shipyard's many businesses, entrepreneurs and personalities.

The result

The web app has made it easier for visitors to discover Djurgårdsvarvet's history while getting a personal insight into its current activities. With short films and convenient QR codes, the shipyard has become more accessible to the public. OnSpotStory provided the technical platform, produced the films and created the printed signs that guide visitors around the shipyard.

With its digital guide, Nya Djurgårdsvarvet has gained a modern way of sharing its history and showing its living activities to a wider audience.