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The exhibition will emphasise Birka's importance as a centre for international trade, because it was here that the people of Svea Rike, as Sweden was then known, had their first contacts with the Continent and the rest of the world. As well as models depicting life in the town, a harbour with ships from near and far and the royal splendours on the neighbouring island of Adelsö, there will be full-scale reconstructions illustrating international trade and everyday life. Many of the remarkable archaeological finds on Birka will also be on show. Research and excavations continue in an effort to learn more of its history. The area is also being adapted to meet the needs of visitors, with better signing, toilets, information boards and rain shelters.
Annika Richert, Riksantikvarieämbetet/National Heritage Department, +46-8-783 91 52

Pippi Longstocking comes to town
Stockholm's museums are one of Sweden's biggest export earners during the summer. This year the children's stories of Astrid Lindgren will be brought to life in a new museum at Vasahallen, the original Vasa Museum. "Junibacken" will be a modern museum for children with a three-dimensional world of stories, music, text and pictures. There will be about 20 special areas where young visitors will be able to re-enact scenes from some of the well-known stories written by Astrid Lindgren and other popular Swedish authors.
Junibacken, Proscenia, tel +46-46-8-24 59 50

Cultural capital for the whole of Sweden
The momentum for Stockholm's year as Cultural Capital of Europe is building up. A wide variety of exhibitions, seminars, festivals, installations, ideas and various projects are already on the programme for 1998. Fifteen "anchor" themes will provide the structure for the year, and the aim is that every part of the city's cultural life will be reflected in the programme. Variety, both thematic and geographic, will be the keynote of the Cultural Capital programme. The long-term aim for the year is to improve the status and accessibility of cultural activities not just in Stockholm but throughout Sweden, as well as stimulating cultural contacts with the rest of Europe. It is also hoped to reach a new public and to provide a forum in which people from different cultural disciplines can co-operate more closely. Culture for children will play a key role, with a new theme each month. Many events will be sponsored, and events for children and teenagers will be free of charge in order to encourage as many as possible to take part.
The 15 Cultural Capital themes are: Meet the world ¬ the international city; The free word ¬ the democratic city; Sound and Silence ¬ the resounding city; The city as a stage ¬ the creative city; "Stockholism" ¬ the enduring city; Time and space ¬ the historic city; Roots and ritual ¬ the city of traditions; Generation K ¬ the young city; Popular creativity ¬ the participating city; Northern Lights ¬ the Nordic city; Waterways ¬ the floating city; Light and darkness ¬ the radiant city; Life forms ¬ the shaped city; Space for nature ¬ the ecological city; In the footsteps of Leonardo ¬ the inventive city.
Stockholm ¬ Cultural Capital of Europe 1998, tel +46-8-402 24 40

Fellini at the Cultural Centre
What did Anita Ekberg's tight black dress in "La Dolce Vita" really look like? And which colours dominated the colourful cardinal's robes in "Rome"? The Cultural Centre will give the answer to these questions in its exhibition "Fellini costumes, fashions and films" which will continue throughout the summer and in which the costumes in Fellini's films will take centre-stage. The exhibition is built around Fellini's favourite themes: the Church/God/death; food/the table/Eros; the biggest show on earth; and travel/death/dreams. Sequences from Fellini's films will be shown to illustrate these themes. About 80 original costumes and work by 15 designers who were inspired by Fellini will also be on show. The exhibition opens on 28 April and continues until 12 August.
Cecilia von Schantz, Kulturhuset/Cultural Centre, tel +46-8-700 01 00

Facelift for Royal Musical Academy
Marking Stockholm's year as Cultural Capital of Europe, the city is to have a new concert stage at Blasieholmstorg in the central area. The old Royal Musical Academy is to undergo a facelift, both of its offices and meeting rooms and its main 600-seat concert hall. The hall is well known for its fantastic acoustics and is specially suitable for chamber music, jazz, folk music and modern classical music. It will be an excellent complement to other venues like the main Stockholm Concert Hall and the Berwald Hall and will be restored extremely carefully. The listed building will also have improved recording facilities, artists' accommodation, new seats and new lighting, all in close consultation with environmental and cultural organisations and the Stockholm City Museum. When the "new" building is inaugurated it will also share space with a number of Swedish musical organisations, as well as the concert promoter Svenska Rikskonserter, which will be moving all its activities there. The building will then become an important musical centre for the whole of Sweden.
Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien/Royal Musical Academy, tel +46-8-611 57 20 Svenska Rikskonserter, tel + 46 8 791 46 00

A safe city
Safety is a key word in the marketing of Stockholm, and it is certainly the case that the city is a safe place for visitors. The new Stockholm Police system of "district policing" is designed to ensure that both visitors and residents can feel safe in the streets and squares. The Klara inner-city police area, based at Brunkebergs Torg, has completed safety training for some of Stock-holm's authorised guides. During the summer police stations in the city centre will put a room at the disposal of the organisation Swedish Victim Support for Travellers which will give assistance to both Swedish and foreign tourists who are affected by crimes.
Klara Police District, tel +46-8-401 11 10 Brottsofferjouren/Swedish Victim Support for Travellers, tel +46-40-91 46 33

1995: a successful year for visitors
Stockholm and its surrounding area enjoyed a successful year for tourism in 1995. The year-end figures show a record total of 5.4 million guest-nights. The biggest increase in percentage terms involved visitors in the "rest of Europe" category (Russia, Baltic states etc), with a growth of 31 per cent on the previous year. Visitors from Norway and Germany, and from destinations outside Europe (Asia etc), showed an increase of 13 per cent. During 1995 Stockholm hosted at least one major conference each week, with a total of 65 events which attracted about 35,000 participants. Stockholm's tourist information offices were visited by 1.2 million Swedish and foreign visitors.
Roland Berndt, Stockholm Information Service, tel +46-8-789 24 65

Archipelago to open up for foreign visitors?
Stockholm's archipelago could become more easily accessible to foreign visitors in the future. The Defence Ministry has suggested that the government should change the law so that foreigners can have the same rights as Swedes to visit those parts of the archipelago which are currently military protection zones. Changes in the law take some time to implement, so unfortunately the existing laws which forbid foreigners to visit these areas will continue to apply during the coming summer. Some areas, including those around Muskö and Vaxholm, will continue to be high-security military zones and will not be covered by the suggested new rules.
Försvarsmakten/Defence Ministry press office, tel +46-8-788 88 88

New Stockholm pages on the Internet
Stockholm is one of the world's leading cities in terms of information technology, according to Microsoft chief Bill Gates when he visited the capital in February. And those who surf the Internet for information about Stockholm will now find a new home page. The Stockholm pages have a new appearance adapted more closely to the needs of the Internet medium and its users. The information is based on Stockholm This Week, with separate sections on Events, Restaurants, Museums and Sights. Internet users who key into the address www.stoinfo.se can also obtain tips on offbeat activities, newsletters and press information and see what questions about Stockholm are posed most frequently. The pages geared towards the needs of tourists are also linked to the City of Stockholm's pages which can be reached on the address www.stockholm.se. Stockholm Information Service is linked in turn to other Stockholm companies' home pages. In the not-too-distant future Internet surfers will also be able to book a hotel room directly on their screens.
Ann Sköld, Stockholm Information Service, +46-8-789 24 63 https://www.stoinfo.se

Top women meet in May
A lot of local interest is being generated in the International Women's Leadership Forum which is taking place in Stockholm on 5-6 May. The list of delegates is long and includes top names like Iceland's president Vigdis Finnbogadóttir and her Irish counterpart Mary Robinson. In addition about 100 other top women leaders from different countries and organisations will be attending. The programme starts with a welcome speech by the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament, Birgitta Dahl, and the following day will be taken up with a session in the Parliament building, film shows, lectures and, in the afternoon, a televised meeting in the Stockholm City Hall with links to women leaders in other parts of the world.
Catharina Ramel, Stockholm Information Service, tel +46-8-789 24 48

Graphics centre in Mariefred
The graphic arts in Sweden are to have their own meeting place, Graphics House, in picturesque Mariefred to the south of Stockholm. Gripsholm Castle's royal farm buildings are being rebuilt to provide a 2,000 square metre area for graphics exhibitions, studios, meetings, a library and café. The works of 400 well-known Swedish artists will provide the basis for the art collection, and there will be space for major exhibitions of both the most radical modern art and classic traditional work. The new building will also be a centre for the creation, study and use of modern graphic art. Visitors to the studios will be able to see how graphic work is conceived and developed, how the paper is manufactured, and how it is printed. The new Graphics House will be inaugurated by His Majesty the King on 8 May.
Grafikens Hus, Graphics House, tel +46-159 231 60

4.5 billion years at Swedish Museum of Natural History
The major work to refurbish the Swedish Museum of Natural History's permanent collection is still continuing. "The History of Life on Earth" is the theme of a modern exhibition which shows how life originated, with the help of touch-screen computers, lighting effects and reconstructed natural environments. It is a quick journey back 4.5 billion years in time, and visitors pass through three exhibition rooms, with each section representing the passage of 100 million years. Among the exhibits are a full-size Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur, a 65 million-year-old horse and the ancestors of mankind, including "Mr and Mrs Peking".
Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet/Swedish Museum of Natural History, tel +46-8-666 40 14

Eko Park tours in English this summer
Guided boat tours in Stockholm's Eko Park, which proved a big success last summer, will be reintroduced this year. There has been great interest in the world's first city national park and there have been long queues at the six jetties along Brunnsviken from which the boat trips depart. The tours will operate at hourly intervals between 10.00 and 15.00 until 28 July. Boat trips with an English-speaking guide round the island of Djurgården, which forms part of the Eko Park, will operate throughout the summer.
Stockholm Sightseeing, tel + 46 8 24 04 70

Grand Hotel changes shape
Exciting things are happening behind the façade of the Grand Hotel in the centre of Stockholm. One-third of the hotel's rooms, on the fifth and sixth floors, are undergoing a complete renovation. The rooms are being completely stripped, apart from the supporting walls, while the 104 new rooms are fitted out with natural materials and cherry wood in classic style. There will also be two new suites in the old attic, one with a staircase up to the old flag-tower and a magnificent view of the city. The "Flag Suite" will change the appearance of the Grand's façade, while the veranda also has a new look. The renovation work will be completed in time for the Nobel Prize festivities in December.
Grand Hotel, tel +46-8-679 35 00

Dream world on show
Holography, the art of producing pictures with a three-dimensional appearance, now has its own centre in Stockholm. The laser-based technology has won a Nobel Prize, and about 30 dream-like motifs can now be seen on Rörstrandsgatan in the Birkastan area of the city.
Hologram Grottan, tel +46-8-10 54 65

Busy summer for special events
Stockholm is going to have a busy summer, with a wealth of special events of all kinds, many of which are shown on the enclosed listing. A particular date worth noting is 1 June. That's when the annual Restaurants Day on Kungsträdgården focuses attention on food and drink, while a Historic Festival takes place at Riddarholmen and in the afternoon the Stockholm Marathon starts from the Olympic Stadium. There will also be a 1970s festival on Kungsholmen with concerts, a market, fashion show and much more. As if that was not enough for one day, a football World Cup qualifying match between Sweden and Russia will be played the same evening.
Eva Svensson, Stockholm Information Service, tel +46-8-789 24 10

DSAB best tour operator for sixth time
Destination Stockholm AB (DSAB) has won the prestigious Grand Travel Award for Sweden's best tour operator for the sixth time. The award is made each year by the travel newspaper RES-Travel News.
Lena Wennerstein, managing director DSAB, tel +46-8-21 82 80

Editor: Katarina Gentzel Translated by Philip Ray

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