The Swedish American History Museum is offering saunas for sessions through March

The morning after Christmas, Christine Bucher and Dave Joachim took one last holiday trip before bringing their 22-year-old son and all of his presents back to town.

The Lehigh Valley family stripped off their swimsuits and entered the freezing temperatures outside the American Swedish Historical Museum in FDR Park. There they found three barrel-shaped wooden saunas, part of the museum’s new pop-up sauna exhibit.

Bucher didn’t know what to expect; But Joachim, a sauna enthusiast, was ready for the 45-minute sweat.

“I always found (saunas) to be beneficial – to just sweat out what had accumulated,” said Joachim.

The Ebba Sparre Sauna Collective is a pop-up sauna experience in collaboration with the museum and Scout, the company behind the Bok building. The electric saunas, supplied and installed by BSaunas USA, officially opened for sweat sessions on December 26th and will be running hot until March 29th.

People can reserve one or all three for 30- to 90-minute sessions for groups of four to 12 adults. (Sorry kids, you must be at least 18 years old to do Schvitz.) Prices range from $100 to $600, depending on the number of barrels, length of sessions, and day of booking. Inside the sauna barrels, electrically heated coals placed by the pop-up staff increase temperatures up to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. As soon as you enter your sauna you will be provided with towels and water. There are a number of outdoor chairs next to each barrel that are sanitized after each use, as well as a shared lounge nearby.

When Lindsey Scannapieco, co-founder and managing partner of Scout, heard that the museum’s newest exhibition was about sauna culture, she jumped at the chance to collaborate on an experiential component.

The exhibition “Sauna is Life: Sauna Culture in Finland” explores the Finnish sauna tradition with objects, photos and videos. And the pop-up gives visitors a chance to experience it firsthand, said curator Brett Peters.

“For the exhibition, we were able to get a non-working sauna on loan from Baltic Leisure (a sauna shop) in Oxford, Pennsylvania,” he said. “But we really wanted there to be functioning saunas on site. We worked (with Scout) to put three outside – it really gives people (an insight into) why (saunas) are so important.”

Scout focuses on bringing activity to unused spaces, so the sauna project was a natural fit.

“We love historical narratives,” Scannapieco said. “And so this project, even though it’s not a development in the traditional sense, is really about a lot of things – like bringing people to the park in the middle of winter.”

The pop-up’s name is inspired by Queen Christina of Sweden’s alleged mistress Ebba Sqarre. According to the pop-up’s website, the Queen Village and Swedesboro neighborhoods refer to the Queen.

The pop-up is also a way for visitors to explore the museum, Scannapieco said. If you book a sauna, entry to the indoor exhibition is free.

“So many people are visiting the museum for the first time,” she said. “And after you’re warmed up (from the sauna), there are some great pho and hot pot restaurants around here. You can make a little day out of it.”

That’s exactly how Bucher convinced Joachim and her son to go on a visit after Christmas.

“As soon as (Joachim) saw the pop-up on the website, he said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it,'” she said. “He loves the sauna.”

As someone who doesn’t like hot weather, she said it took a while to get used to the sauna experience. “It was a bit like being on the subway in August.

“Going out and going back in was the best part of the temperature change — maybe it would be more fun if it was colder outside,” Bucher said on a 37-degree day.

Logistically, the experience went smoothly, she said. A lifeguard accompanies sauna guests through the process, from the designated changing room in the museum to the barrels outside.

Scannapieco recommends going outside every 15 minutes to cool down and stay hydrated throughout the session. There is also an outdoor shower for people to enjoy the cold experience.

But “there’s no right way to take a sauna – it’s all about your comfort level,” she said.

“You think you’ll never be able to stand outside (in the cold) in a swimsuit, but it’s really invigorating and energizing and just feels amazing.”

📍American Swedish Historical Museum. 1900 Pattison Ave., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19145, 🌐 ebbasparresauna.com, 📷 instagram.com/ebbasparresauna