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TOURISM

Stockholm’s Vasa Museum sails into top spot on most-visited list

Stockholm's Vasa Museum, showcasing a well-preserved centuries-old shipwreck, is now the country’s most visited museum.

Stockholm's Vasa Museum sails into top spot on most-visited list
The Vasa Museum in Stockholm. Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT

Almost 1.5 million people visited the famous ship in 2017, pushing Stockholm’s living museum Skansen from the most-visited spot it had held for several years.

Compared to the previous year — which also welcomed a record-breaking number of guests — visitor numbers to the Vasa Museum increased by 154,084 in 2017, an 11 percent rise. That included a landmark day on July 25th, when the previous record for number of visits on a single day was smashed.

“It's amazing. I am particularly pleased that the proportion of children visiting us has increased. We have invested a lot in our younger visitors, for example by offering more family tours,” said the museum's director, Lisa Månsson.

On the other hand, 24,826 fewer people headed to Skansen, located just a stone’s throw away on the green island of Djurgarden.

Skansen wasn’t the only site to see a fall in visitor numbers: the Swedish Museum of Natural History, the third most visited in the country, saw a drop of 70,000 visitors while the Historical Museum welcomed 100,000 fewer people through its doors last year. That’s despite the fact that both sites became free to visit from January 2016, while there’s a fee for both the Vasa and Skansen.

READ ALSO: Why the Vasa is getting a makeover… and losing weight

In total, around 8.6 million people visited the central sites belonging to the Association of Swedish Museums, which includes the country’s largest museums across the country, according to the association’s figures. Regional museums welcomed 3.6 visitors, while 4.5 million people visited local museums and 1.8 million went to other museums, including both public and private collections.

Compared to recent figures from the Eurobarometer, 80 percent of Swedes visited a museum or gallery at least once in the past year, making them Europe’s most prolific museum-goers. The average across the EU was just 30 percent.

CULTURE

Daddy cool: Swedish dads go viral as boy band

Five Swedish fathers singing capella pop songs while taking care of their young children have taken social media by storm, with their videos garnering tens of millions of views.

Daddy cool: Swedish dads go viral as boy band

The five men, all in their 30s, film their “Dad Harmony” sessions while hanging out with their kids at home in the northern town of Skellefteå.

“This story all started at my bachelor party” in the summer of 2022, Peter Widmark, a 33-year-old who works in sales, told AFP in an interview. “We were hanging out and singing as we usually do when we hang out… (and) my brother filmed it and put it on TikTok with his seven followers.”

The next morning the dads discovered the video had been viewed 40,000 times. The number had skyrocketed to 20 million hits worldwide within a few weeks.

The five friends decided to start posting videos regularly, shot in their kitchens or on their sofas, often holding their little ones on their laps.

Singing the chorus of Leonard Cohen’s classic “Hallelujah”, one of the dads can be seen holding his weeks-old newborn in his arms.

“It’s a soothing thing when we sing,” Widmark said, explaining why the children are usually so calm in the videos.

‘Typical Swedish guys’

“We are typical Swedish guys,” said Widmark’s brother Tomas, who is also part of the group, adding it was “not that unusual” for men in Sweden to spend a lot of time with their children.

“Almost every guy in Sweden is used to taking paternity leave so it’s not a big deal for us,” he added.

Each of the dads has two kids.

Dad Harmony’s repertoire includes hits by Michael Jackson, the Beatles and popular Christmas songs.

Since the end of November the group has been on a month-long tour criss-crossing Sweden to perform live shows each weekend – albeit without their kids.

During the weeks, they go back to Skellefteå and continue to work at their normal jobs and spend time with their families.

The members of Dad Harmony in an interview with AFP. Photo: Viken Kantarci/AFP

“I just stumbled on their video on Instagram and I was mesmerised,” said Louise Elgström, a 41-year-old fan who attended a recent show in the town of Norrköping.

She said their appeal lies in the fact that “they feel so natural and also (that they are) involving their children”.

The dads vow their success won’t go to their heads. “No televisions flying from the hotel rooms!” joked band member Sebastian Åkesson.

But the group has big dreams: they hope to line up tour dates in the United States and Asia, and say they would love to sing with Elton John one day.

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