Two Stockholm museums face closure over rising rents

The authority running the Mediterranean and East Asian museums wants to leave their current premises. It says keeping them open there while fulfilling its museum duties would require at least 35 million kronor more each year.

The recommendation for Medelhavsmuseet and Östasiatiska museet, reported by SVT, comes as the National Museums of World Culture expects rents to rise by 20.7 million kronor over 2027–2029. It warns that the squeeze threatens both exhibitions and its responsibility to preserve and study the collections.

Leaving the two sites would cut exhibition space by 23 per cent. The authority favours expanding the Museum of Ethnography at Gärdet instead, a move that would require political decisions.

The proposal is to give notice on the leases in 2027 and move out the following year. It is a recommendation to the government, not an announcement that the museums have already closed.

The local Saco union chair, Magnus Johansson, says extra funding could keep the museums in their present homes, though the rents would still need a longer-term solution.

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