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New Museum of Modern Art inaugurated
The new Museum of Modern Art on the island of Skeppsholmen in the heart of Stockholm was inaugurated on 14 February. The stylish building designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo will also house the Swedish Museum of Architecture. Spanning a total of 20,000 square metres, the building has been divided into a number of different sized galleries which are linked by a long passageway. This means that the museum can finally bring its entire art collection under one roof. More than 30,000 graphics and drawings from throughout the 20th century will also be transferred from the National Museum of Art, opening up a whole new area for the Museum of Modern Art.
The first exhibition, ”WOUNDS: Between Democracy and Redemption in Contemporary Art”, runs from 14 February to 19 April and reflects developments in art from 1960 to the present day.
The late spring will see a Joan Miró exhibition opening on 16 May. This will be the first time most of Miró’s paintings, sculptures and drawings have been exhibited in Sweden. The exhibition draws on the extremely valuable works held by some of the leading museums in the US and Europe, including the Miró Museum in Barcelona. Stockholm’s year as Cultural Capital also marks the 40th anniversary of the Museum of Modern Art and David Elliott, the new curator, believes that the museum will prove a major attraction, bringing in 500,000 or more visitors.
Call +46 8 519 552 00 for more information on the Museum of Modern Art and the Swedish Museum of Architecture.

Food to sell Sweden abroad
Stockholm gets its own Michelin Guide Guide Michelin is launching a special tourist guide to Stockholm to mark the Cultural Capital year. For the first time the guide combines the usual Michelin green guide listings of classified and starred sights with a wide selection of hotels, restaurants and starred establishments which are included in the red hotel and restaurant guide.
Normally Michelin gives its ratings for European hotels and restaurants in its Europe guide at the end of March, but it has brought forward its listings for Stockholm in this special guide in English. Six Stockholm restaurants have been given starred ratings. New stars have been awarded to the newly renovated Operakällaren, the world champion chef Mathias Dahlgren’s restaurant Bon Lloc, and the restaurant Fredsgatan 12. The other three restaurants – Paul & Norbert, Edsbacka Krog and Wedholms Fisk – retain their stars awarded last year. The City of Stockholm has been awarded a maximum of three stars and its leading sights are described in the guide in a section covering about 30 pages. The guide has awarded three ”highly recommended” stars to five Stockholm sights: the Old Town, the Vasa Museum, Skansen, Drottningholm and the Stockholm archipelago.
The Swedish Travel & Tourism Council is capitalising on Swedish chefs’ recent international successes by launching a ”Gourmetland Sweden” campaign to attract more visitors. Swedish food will be an important part of STTC’s Sweden: a great country campaign.

Every day’s a party in Cultural Capital year
Seven Stockholm restaurants are each representing a day of the week throughout the year under the theme Every day’s a party! The restaurants will serve various historic menus in an appropriate setting with special décor, music, informal talks and poetry. The menus will include traditional Swedish ”home cooking” dishes as well as more lavish fare. Guests will be given a leaflet describing the historic events being commemorated, a menu and recipes. The participating restaurants are: PRINSEN (Sunday), DEN GYLDENE FREDEN (Monday), GRANDS VERANDA (Tuesday), STUREHOF (Wednesday), LEIJONTORNET (Thursday), WASAHOF (Friday) and OCEAN (Saturday).
Also marking the Cultural Capital year is a specially produced schnapps – Stockholm Aquavit, a classic Swedish car-away- based schnapps spiced with herbs. For every bottle sold, 1 krona will go to a fund for the promotion of Swedish culture ( Reimersholms Kulturfond). In spring 1999 a jury will select the winner(s) of the Reimersholm Culture Prize. Members of the public are invited to nominate people, groups or institutions who could qualify for the award.

The café city
Stockholm has the first comprehensive guide to its cafés. Stockholm’s 100 best cafés has been produced in co-operation with SL, the city’s public transport operator. The co-operation started when the authors, Sanna Bengtsson and Maria Wahlström, were considering how to structure the guide. As a result it is divided into the various underground railway routes and bus services. The majority of the cafés, but by no means all, are located in the inner city. All types of café are represented in the guide, but the common factor linking them is that they all have a special atmosphere.

Stockholm's Cultural Heritage 1998
Sweden’s Department of National Heritage is marking the city’s cultural heritage during the Cultural Capital year with various special activities, including seminars and exhibitions. Experts from all over the world will come to Stockholm for a conference on ”Historic towns – a heritage for the future”, to discuss how historic values can influence the development of a city. The conference is being arranged by the Department of National Heritage along with the Swedish branch of Icomos (the International Council of Monuments and Sites) and the Cultural Capital organisers. One of the exhibitions being organised will focus on conservation, administration, valuation and planning for buildings of cultural and historical importance.
Department of National Heritage Riksantikvarieämbetet, +46 8-783 90 83

New Music Centre at Nybroviken
The new centre for Rikskonserter (State Concerts), NYBROKAJEN 11, is being inaugurated on 7 March. It is based in the old headquarters of the Musical Academy. The move will be marked by a gala concert and a two-week festival packed with various musical activities. The aim of Rikskonserter is to establish Stockholm as a major musical centre in Europe and it is welcoming a number of guests artists throughout the year. Another aim is to make NYBROKAJEN 11 the main centre for Swedish musical life.
Rikskonserter, +46 8-407 17 00

Nordic Museum’s ‘millionaire’ archive
The Nordic Museum’s photographic library contains more than 4 million pictures, from the daguerreotypes of the 1840s to contemporary reportage photographs. The archive illustrates Sweden’s cultural history in colour and black and white, showing life in the workplace and at home, as well as food, fashions, interior décor, architecture and design. Mats Landin, one of the museum’s photographers, has chosen 40 photographs which can be seen outside the conference area at Garnisonen, Karlavägen 100 (first floor) during the spring.
Olle Grönstedt, Nordiska Museet, +46 8-666 46 83

Opera House celebrates Cultural Capital year
Carl Orff ’s musical drama Carmina Burana introduced the Cultural Capital year at Stockholm’s Royal Opera House. Audiences have reached record levels and there is every chance that the production will continue in 1998-99. The season’s second première was for the classic love drama Werther, with music by the French romantic composer Jules Massenet. The opera is based on Goethe’s novel about the young Werther’s suffering and death. When it was published the novel produced an epidemic of suicides among men involved in an unhappy marriage. In some parts of Europe the novel was banned because of its allegedly immoral content.
Royal Opera House, +46 8-24 82 40

Arlanda’s welcome to visitors
Some 9 million people arriving at Arlanda Airport are being welcomed to Stockholm, Cultural Capital of Europe 1998, in an unconventional way. Arlanda is the natural gateway to the city, so a large welcome sign, 7 metres wide and 1 metre high, has been provided in the Customs area in Terminal 2 and Terminal 5. It has been designed by Hans Jörgen Johansen and is part of an artistic programme launched by the Civil Aviation Authority about six months ago. The idea behind the project is to provide unexpected experiences which will lead to more contact between people. The authority points out that an airport fulfils an increasingly important role as a meeting place. Arlanda’s conference centre has been expanding rapidly in recent years, and the airport is now handling 40,000-50,000 passengers every day.
Arlanda Airport, +46 8-797 61 00

1997 record year
Last year produced record traffic for Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport, both in terms of passengers and aircraft movements. With traffic continuing to grow at the same rate as 1996, Arlanda reached its permitted capacity limit during the year. The number of passengers passing through the airport in 1997 totalled about 15 million, compared with 13.9 million in 1996, an increase of almost 8%. The number of movements was 257,795, the highest in Arlanda’s history.

Swedish TV goes digital Europe-wide
Swedish Television started satellite transmissions to the whole of Europe on 10 December. About 7,000 Swedish expatriates have already registered their interest in subscribing to the new channel. The Swedish TV programmes will also be available in North Africa, the Canary Islands and the Middle East and, in suitable conditions, in Iran and Iraq. SVT Europa, as the new channel is called, will transmit the best Swedish-produced programmes from the two terrestrial channels. The range of programmes will be similar to the SVT channel which has been available in Finland via land lines for the past nine years. In large parts of Europe, a satellite dish with a diameter of 70 cm will be needed to receive the programme. It is estimated that the satellite transmissions can reach about 125,000 Swedes living abroad.
Swedish Television, +46 8-784 86 01

Camping campaign
A campaign to attract more camping visitors to Sweden has been launched by the Swedish Camping Site Owners’ Association in conjunction with the ferry companies and the Swedish Travel & Tourism Council. Brochures in eight languages are being distributed. Most camping visitors come from Germany, a major target group for the campaign. Interest in the Swedish countryside and Sweden as a whole has increased significantly in Italy and France, where increasing numbers of travellers are being attracted to Sweden’s camping sites. During 1997 Sweden had 550,000 guestnights in camping sites, and an annual growth rate of 12%-15% is planned for overseas markets, representing an annual revenue increase of 100 million kronor. Camping currently accounts for revenue of about 3.3 billion kronor annually, one-third of which is spent at the sites and the remainder on provisions, petrol and other purchases.
Camping sites in Stockholm
Mats Wåhlin, Stockholm Information Service +46 8-789 24 00

The first factory outlet
A new visitor attraction will be inaugurated in March, when Sweden’s first American-style factory outlet centre opens in Barkarby in the north-west of the Greater Stockholm region. Manufacturers’ surplus stocks will be sold at drastically reduced prices direct to the consumer, similar to the factory-shop concept but on a much larger scale. Sweden already has a strong tradition in direct selling of this type, notably in the Småland glassworks and the ready-to-wear clothing factories in Västergötland. As its name implies, Barkarby Quality Outlet will specialise in top-class clothing. A lot of interest has been expressed by manufacturers and a number of contracts have already been signed, but the brands which will be on sale remain a secret until the opening. The factory outlet concept is the same all over the world. Outlets have to be located away from the city centre, but cannot be compared to a normal out-of-town shopping centre because they are more of a tourist attraction. Typically, visitors from all over Sweden will visit the centre once or twice a year to pick up bargains. More factory outlet centres are planned in the Stockholm suburbs, including the giant ”Kungens Krona” in Kungens Kurva, where building is planned to start this spring.
James Li, +46 8-795 21 81

Strömma buys the last steam-powered coaster
Sweden’s last coastal steamship, Öland, is being acquired by the Strömma Kanal sightseeing company. The ship was originally built as a mail vessel in 1931, but for the past 15 years it has been laid up awaiting scrapping or refurbishment. The forthcoming restoration of the vessel is one of the most comprehensive that Strömma Kanal has ever carried out. The ship is 49 metres long and 8.5 metres wide and, after its renovation, will carry about 500 passengers. It will be fitted with a modern restaurant-style kitchen with several dining rooms. Öland, the largest of its type, will be based in Stockholm’s harbour. It will be used mainly on sailings into the Stockholm archipelago and on Lake Mälaren and will continue to be steam-powered.
Strömma Kanalbolaget, +46 8-587 140 70

More protection for archipelago
Sweden’s archipelagos are to be given increased protection so that they can be preserved for future generations. The Government has given county councils the task of drawing up special environmental and conservation programmes. The archipelagos on both the west and east coasts have a unique natural and cultural heritage which ranges from the barren rocks along the coastline to the idyllic bays further inland. The Government regards the protection of the archipelagos as a task of national importance.
Stockholm archipelago.

Ideas for a walk
About 200 of Stockholm’s parks and green open spaces in the inner city are being documented in seven brochures which are being distributed free of charge during the Cultural Capital year. They are available from municipal offices, libraries and other outlets. Each of the seven brochures covers a special area with suggestions for a walk, apart from Norrmalm, which offers two walks. The brochures will be available in English, and a combined version covering all the areas is also planned. With the help of the brochure’s maps, pictures and short descriptions, visitors will be able to follow specially-designed routes through a ”green” environment. A similar book on walks along Stockholm’s waterfronts is already available.

Winter – a swimming season in Sweden
Just at the time that most Stockholmers are getting their winter clothing out of the wardrobe, a few brave souls are doing just the opposite: the winter swimmers. Their dip is preceded by a jog and finishes with a long session in the sauna. The state of mind induced by the shock of diving into the cold water and its effect on the blood vessels and the skin pores is variously described by the swimmers themselves as an ”instant mental repair” or an ”intensive intoxication”. For those who are already addicts and others who would like to swim in guaranteed ice-cold water, winter swimming is available at the following places in Stockholm:
Nacka, Hellasgården +46 8-773 10 25, Åkersberga, Domaruddens friluftsgård +46 8-520 208 25

Chinese restaurant boat
The Chinese barge, Sea Palace, arrives in Stockholm harbour at the end of March. Sea Palace is a floating restaurant which will be berthed at Söder Mälarstrand. Both Shanghai and Szechuan cuisine will be represented on the menus. The boat, adorned with 8,888 dragons, will be based in Stockholm for about two years before moving to other Swedish cities. It was built in Shanghai and then transported to Gothenburg, from where it will travel along the Swedish coast under its own power. More SAS flights from London From 29 March SAS is increasing its services from London to Stockholm (Arlanda) with two daily non-stop flights from Stansted Airport in addition to the long-established departures from Heathrow. The route will be operated by 105-seat DC9-41 aircraft. Departures from Stansted are at 09.20 and 12.30, and from Arlanda at 07.00 and 16.00. Flying time is 2 hours.
Per Söderblom, SAS, +46 8-797 21 05

New rules for taxis at Arlanda
New regulations for taxi operations at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport come into effect on 2 March. Customers will be able to know in advance the maximum fare for their journey, and all taxi operators are signing an agreement with ARTS (Arlanda Remove Taxi Service) on the maximum prices they will quote. Prices will be quoted for both metered trips and for fixed price services to Stockholm and Uppsala. Taxi operators will be split into four different price groups. Group 1 is the least expensive with a maximum fixed-price fare of 390 kronor or a maximum of 12.50 kronor per kilometre. Only the taxis in price group 1 will be allowed to stand on the taxi ranks adjoining the terminals. Others must park at remote ranks and will be called only on request.
Leif Reinemar, Civil Aviation Authority (Luftfartsverket), +46 8-797 61 86

Larger Sweden Shop
The Sweden Shop at Sweden House at Hamngatan 27, sells Swedish textiles, glass and handicrafts at inexpensive prices. The shop has recently been enlarged and now offers a wider choice of goods for the increasing number of customers. The Sweden Shop is centrally located on the ground floor at Sweden House where visitors can also pick up brochures and buy tickets for excursions and special events.
Margaretha Rooth-Lindstrand, Stockholm Information Service, +46 8-789 24 07

Editor: Lena Jörgenson
Translated by Philip Ray

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