One block north of the townhouse. Founded 1936, now one of southern Sweden's most coherent collections of Skåne modernism. The museum reopened 9 May 2026 after a long renovation; the first exhibition is a Cecilia Edefalk solo running to 30 August 2026. Holdings include Johan Johansson, Agda Holst, Jules Schyl, Inger Ekdahl, Leif Holmrand, Tora Vega Holmström, Gerhard Nordström, and the Billgren family. Combined ticket with Klostret 80 SEK.
Klostret i Ystad
Sankt Petri kyrkoplan · 50 SEK / 80 with Konstmuseum
The 13th‑century Greyfriars monastery, together with Vadstena one of the two best preserved medieval monasteries in Sweden. Now the town's cultural history museum: textiles, silver, archaeology, the deconsecrated Sankt Petri kyrka with roughly 80 grave slabs from the 14th to 18th centuries, and a medicinal herb garden in the cloister yard.
Klostret in Ystad, the 13th-century Greyfriars cloister
Ystad Studios Visitor Center
Elis Nilssons väg 14 · daily 10–16 in summer · adult ticket 130 SEK
Formerly called Cineteket. Built around the standing sets of Scandinavia's largest film studio. The interior of Kurt Wallander's flat, kitchen and office is displayed, along with props from the 13 Yellow Bird Wallander films, the BBC adaptation with Kenneth Branagh, Bron II and III, and The Best of Mothers. Green‑screen rooms, animation tables and editing booths are open for visitors.
Dag Hammarskjölds Backåkra
Backåkravägen 73, Löderup · open mid‑May to summer, daily 11–17
25 km east, between dunes and sea. The four‑winged farm was bought by Hammarskjöld in 1957 as a UN‑era retreat; after his death in 1961, the estate held his furniture, library and African and modern art. Closed 2011 for renovation, reopened 2018. The 2026 main display, In the Service of Humanity, sets Hammarskjöld alongside Folke Bernadotte and Raoul Wallenberg. A smaller room shows correspondence between Hammarskjöld and Barbara Hepworth, who carved Single Form in his memory. The meditation circle of stones, built in 1969 between the courtyard and the cliff edge, is open year round.
Charlottenlund slott och slottspark
West of the centre · park open year‑round
The 19th‑century pleasure estate that anchors the western side of town. Closed to the public outside concerts; the park hosts the jazz festival's main outdoor stage including the closing concert in 2026, Sunday 2 August.
Galleries
Across Ystad and Österlen
Gallery M1
Hamngatan 13, Continental du Sud, Ystad
Ystad's longest‑running commercial gallery, founded 1983 as Galleri Max. Mixed Swedish and international shows, painting and graphics.
Galleri Lacke
Per Helsas Gård, Ystad
The most reliable artist‑run space inside the courtyard of half‑timbered houses just off Stora Östergatan.
Kabusa Art Gallery
Köpingebro · 10 min east · 800 m² in a 19th‑century starch factory
The largest commercial gallery in the area. Around 40 represented artists. The premises were taken over by Lars Lerin in a recent expansion.
Moved to its new site in 2024 and added an indoor gallery in 2025. The sculpture park sits directly in pasture, hedgerow and slope. The 2026 indoor programme includes Memories of Lakes Lost.
Brösarps Konsthall
Brösarp · partnered with Galerie Leger
Running since 2006. Ten or so shows a year of Nordic contemporary art, painting, sculpture and prints.
Rockhead Art
Fabriksgatan 1, Simrishamn
Ulf Lundell's own gallery, open since 2015, showing his paintings, prints and posters.
Galleri Jägfeldt
Peppinge, north of Kåseberga
Annika Jägfeldt's painting studio (Konstfack, KRO).
Galleri 1, Galleri Kustvägen, Gallery Handell
Simrishamn / Kåseberga / Kivik
Three smaller year‑round galleries worth a stop on the Österlen trail.
Theatre and music
Ystads Teater and the church concerts
Ystads Teater on Sjömansgatan 13 opened 12 February 1894 to designs by Peter Boisen, the town's first city architect. It replaced an earlier Empire‑style theatre on Stortorget that burned in 1891. What makes the room unusual is the preserved set of original stage flats by Carl Ludvig Grabow, Sweden's leading scene painter from the 1870s to 1922: an English park, a cottage interior, a bourgeois drawing room, a reception hall and a town square. The theatre programmes about 140 events a year, touring drama, dance, chamber concerts, opera in summer, and serves as one of the main jazz festival venues.
Sankta Maria kyrka is Ystad's oldest building, parts dating to the 1240s. Lunch organ music runs Monday to Saturday at 12:00 in summer. The Tornväktare blows his horn from the tower every quarter hour from 21:15 to 01:00, year round, the only unbroken watchman tradition in Sweden, since 1748.
Klosterkyrkan beside the abbey hosts the spring lunch concert series and is the second main festival venue. The 2026 spring programme includes Magnus Wahlberg, Annika Bjelk, the Sølvig Vocal Trio, the Svanholm Singers and the Eyra String Trio.
Konstrundan
The Easter art trail
Konstrundan is the oldest open‑studio event in Sweden, started by Österlen artists in 1968 and run by ÖSKG since 1974. The 58th edition runs Good Friday 3 April to Sunday 12 April 2026. About 85 studios, ateliers and small galleries open their doors across Österlen and southern Skåne, weekdays 13:00–17:00 and on holidays 10:00–18:00. A printed map is free at Tjörnedala Konsthall in Baskemölla and at the Ystad visitor centre.
The practical advice for a day: pick one of the four sub‑regions (Simrishamn–Kivik, Brösarp–Vitemölla, Skillinge–Borrby, or Köpingebro–Glemmingebro) rather than crossing the whole peninsula. Park once, walk between three or four studios, drive once to the next cluster. Tjörnedala Konsthall is worth the trip on its own and serves coffee. Outside Easter, Kivik Art Centre, Brösarps Konsthall, Kabusa, Galleri Jägfeldt and Rockhead Art keep regular hours through the season.
Ceramics, glass, design
Makers of Österlen
The Österlen ceramics scene is the strongest in southern Sweden and most studios are within 25 minutes of Ystad.
Ulla Viotti, Brantevik The senior figure in the area since 2005. Rustic earthenware, wall reliefs, ceramic sculpture.
Okimo Studio, Sankt Olof Emma Kim Hagdahl's workshop in a former forest building. Functional stoneware in small batches.
Keramika Fantasia (Eva Troedson, Capellagården) One of the oldest continuous studios in the area, since 1995.
Maria Ekberg Keramik / Ekberga, near Kivik Active studio; publishes the most useful current list of Österlen potters at krukmakeri.se.
Walking the architecture
Three short loops
The old town loop
40 minutes
From Stortorget south on Stora Östergatan to Pilgrändshuset (Scandinavia's oldest standing half‑timbered house, dated 1480). North to Per Helsas Gård. Continue to Latinskolan beside Sankta Maria kyrka, the late‑15th‑century brick schoolhouse. Stand under the watchman's tower at 21:15 for the horn.
Harbour and Saltsjöbad
50 minutes
From Hamntorget along Strandvägen west to Ystad Saltsjöbad, the seaside resort whose modern form was set by August Ewe in 1927 after the 1913 fire and extended in 1936. The most coherent piece of early‑20th‑century seaside architecture on the south coast.
Sankt Knuts
30 minutes
Sankt Knuts torg with the art museum, the studios entrance, the 1980s Stadsbiblioteket (Claes B Persson, 1983), and the small park behind it. A short, instructive contrast to the medieval core.
Wallander
The literary trail
Henning Mankell set Kurt Wallander in the streets you walk every morning, and the BBC series with Kenneth Branagh used the same locations.
Start at Mariagatan 10, eight minutes' walk north of Stortorget. The first 13 Yellow Bird films used number 10 as Wallander's apartment. The interior, with the kitchen, the living room and the office, was built on a soundstage and is the centrepiece of Ystad Studios Visitor Center on Elis Nilssons väg.
Stortorget is in many of the films: the square is the bookshop Wallander frequents, the restaurant where he eats with colleagues, the site of two hostage scenes and one explosion in the series. The harbour, the road to Saltsjöbad, the courthouse and Fridhemsgatan all appear repeatedly. Ystad Studios Visitor Center holds props, the apartment set, a green‑screen room and a Wallander self‑guided audio tour built on Mankell's short story Pyramiden.
Bookshops and antiquarians
Where to read in town
Bokhandeln i Ystad
Stora Östergatan. The town's main general bookshop. Local‑author section includes the Mankell editions in Swedish and English.
Ystads Antikvariat
Lilla Östergatan 10. ILAB member. Swedish and Nordic books, local history, travel. Tue–Fri 12–17, Sat 10–13, also Mondays in July.
Ystads Stadsbibliotek
Surbrunnsvägen. The most‑visited cultural building in town, with around 500 visitors a day. 1983 building by Claes B Persson, free Wi‑Fi.
Bokrundan
Second weekend of August: regional book tour opens around twenty small bookshops and antiquarians across southern Skåne. Useful weekend if you are here in August.
