Gustavianum closing soon for renovation

The indoor air quality of Uppsala University’s Museum Gustavianum be improved and a larger exhibition space will be create in the upcoming renovation.

The Gustavianum building dates back to the 1620s and has housed the Uppsala University Museum since 1997. The museum is responsible for many unique and fragile objects, such as mummies from Egypt, Greek and Roman collections, archaeological finds from the Viking Age, the famous art cabinet from Augsburg and delicate scientific instruments.

Better museum climate control with modern technology

The building now will be renovated to better equip it to serve as a museum, where collections can be preserved for the future. Most important, this involves changing the indoor climate controls in the exhibition rooms. Modern technologies will allow light levels, humidity and temperatures to be regulated and remain as uniform and stable as possible. In this way, the museum collection on display will fare better and there will be less strain from seasonal and weather variations.

“We very much look forward to more professional museum climate controls in the building. Our collections are worth it,” says Mikael Ahlund, director of Museum Gustavianum. “We have a number of unique artefacts of international calibre that we want to show our visitors.”

The character of the Gustavianum building, including its anatomical theatre, will not be altered by the renovation.

The National Property Board Sweden is carrying out the renovation in close collaboration with Uppsala University. Work is expected to continue for three years.

External warehouse open to students and researchers

The museum building will close during the renovation period, but the museum’s other operations will continue as usual. The external warehouse will be open to students and researchers. Parts of the collections will be made available to the public on special occasions. The Vikings Begin exhibition continues its tour of the United States during the renovation period.