STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Stockholm singles with love on their mind gathered in a royal history museum the evening before Valentine's Day, hoping to meet a partner equally passionate about the monarchy and historic battles.
The evening, organized by the Royal Armory, kicked off with a quiz to break the ice for the 30 history buffs.
Divided into teams, they had to answer tricky questions including "Which king's swords are on display in the room?" and "Who wore the red jacket with ornate silver embroidery?"
The quiz was "quite difficult," said Gustav Englund, a 30-year-old traffic planner who attended the evening with a group of colleagues.
In one corner of the room, numbered vials were placed on a table, containing smells typically associated with battlefields.
Participants had to identify the scents, including that of a rotting cadaver — surely a mood-killer for someone hoping for a romantic tete-a-tete?
Lisa Lyden, a 46-year-old administrative assistant, agreed, dashing swiftly to the bar to down a drink to drown out the memory of the putrid smell, she said
Passionate about Swedish royal history, Lyden said she had come hoping "to meet a guy," a big smile on her face.
"I go to a lot of singles' events, but it's the dating game, it's hard," she said.
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Shared passion
The Royal Armory has organized singles' evenings since 2017, curator Magdalena Piotrowska said.
"We have very popular accounts on social media... We have this very sort of funny and light language and light way of speaking about history," Piotrowska said.
"We interact with our followers a lot. They ask questions and we discuss things with them," she added. "We notice that there's a huge interest, and that probably many of these persons don't really have someone to discuss" their interest with.
Eva Dozzi, a 67-year-employee at public broadcaster SVT, said she loved the get-togethers.
"It's an inventive way of meeting new people, whether you're single or not," she said. "It increases your chances of meeting someone who shares the same interests."
Located in Stockholm's royal palace, the Royal Armory covers Swedish royal history from the 16th century to today.
It recounts the lives of kings and queens, their rise to power and details of their reigns, but also their love lives, their marriages and for some, their tragic deaths on the battlefield, Piotrowska said.
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