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MUSEUM

Swedish museums start opening up for free

Many of Sweden's most popular state-owned museums are now free to visit after a change in the law.

Published: 2 February 2016 09:50 CET
Swedish museums start opening up for free
The Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg. Photo: Björn Larsson Rosvall/TT
The museums letting tourists and locals in without charge include the modern art Moderna museet venues in Stockholm and Malmö, the Naturhistoriska riksmuseet (Swedish Museum of Natural History) and the Världskulturmuseet i Göteborg (Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg).
 
The move will be funded by Swedish taxpayers and was first mooted as part of the government's autumn budget, as The Local reported in September. It came into action on February 1st.
 
Prime Minister Stefan Löfven's Social Democrat party also introduced a similar scheme when it last was in power 10 years ago, but fees were reintroduced by the centre-right Alliance government in 2006.
 
Culture Minister Alice Bah Kuhnke told Swedish broadcaster SVT last year that she hoped the move would encourage people from a more diverse range of backgrounds to attend exhibitions.
 
“We need to open up and show our shared treasures to reach groups other than those who usually go to museums,” she said.
 
However Sweden's most popular tourist attraction, the Vasa museum, which contains an iconic warship, is set to keep its fee of 130 kronor for adults (just under $16).
 
The museum's director Magnus Olafsson has said that he is not concerned that visitors might be drawn away from the Stockholm landmark due to the now costless attractions nearby.
 
“We know from the last time [state-run museums were free] that we will not lose any visitors. Actually, the number of visitors rose during that period, so I am not at all concerned,” he said in September.
 
The Abba Museum will also retain its price of 196 kronor for adults, plus a 20 kronor service fee for tickets booked at the venue rather than online.
 
Sweden's largest open-air museum, Skansen, will continue to charge too, with varied costs throughout the year.
 
The full list of museums that are now free 

Armémuseum (Army museum)

Etnografiska museet (Museum of Ethnography)

Flygvapenmuseum (Swedish Air Force Museum)

Historiska museet (History Museum)

Kungl. myntkabinettet (Royal Coin Cabinet)

Livrustkammaren (Royal Armoury)

Marinmuseum (Naval Museum)

Medelhavsmuseet (Mediterranean Museum)

Moderna museet (Modern Museum)

Nationalmuseum (National Museum)

Naturhistoriska riksmuseet (Swedish Museum of Natural History)

Sjöhistoriska museet (Maritime Museum)

Skoklosters slott (Skokloster Castle)

Statens centrum för arkitektur och design (Architecture and Design Museum)

Världskulturmuseet (Museum of World Culture)

Östasiatiska museet (Museum of East Asia)

MUSEUM

German police arrest fugitive twin over Dresden museum heist

German police said Tuesday they have arrested one of two fugitive twin brothers from the so-called Remmo clan wanted over their suspected role in snatching priceless jewels from a museum in the city of Dresden.

Published: 15 December 2020 11:11 CET
German police arrest fugitive twin over Dresden museum heist
Archive photo from April 2019 shows the Jewellery Room of the Green Vault. Photo: DPA

The 21-year-old suspect was detained in Berlin on Monday evening over what local media have dubbed one of the biggest museum heists in modern history, a spokesman for the police in the eastern city of Dresden said.

The twins had eluded German authorities when they carried out raids last month and arrested three members of the Remmo clan, a family of Arab origin notorious for its ties to organised crime.

Police then named them as 21-year-old Abdul Majed Remmo and Mohammed Remmo.

All five suspects are accused of “serious gang robbery and two counts of arson,” Dresden prosecutors said.

Police did not immediately name the arrested twin. His brother remains on the run.

The robbers launched their brazen raid lasting eight minutes on the Green Vault museum in Dresden's Royal Palace on November 25th, 2019.

READ ALSO: Everything you need to know about the Dresden museum heist

Having caused a partial power cut and broken in through a window, they snatched priceless 18th-century jewellery and other valuables from the collection of the Saxon ruler August the Strong.

Items stolen included a sword whose hilt is encrusted with nine large and 770 smaller diamonds, and a shoulderpiece which contains the famous 49-carat Dresden white diamond, Dresden's Royal Palace said.

The Remmos were previously implicated in another stunning museum robbery in the heart of Berlin in which a 100-kilogramme gold coin was stolen.

Investigators last year targeted the family with the seizure of 77 properties worth a total of €9.3 million, charging that they were purchased with the proceeds of various crimes, including a 2014 bank robbery.

READ ALSO: €1 million gold coin stolen from iconic Berlin museum

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