True Crime

Orain ikusgai2024(e)ko urtarrilaren 1(a) – 2027(e)ko martxoaren 31(a)·190 kr

Sweden's prohibition era in 1920s-30s Stockholm, told through smugglers, bootleggers and moonshiners.

In 1920s Stockholm, the smuggler Karl Georg Malmberg fitted a fog machine to his boat to lose the customs men behind his own smokescreen. He is one of the real criminals here, next to a horse trader who sold liquor from a flask on his back.

The subject is the strictest alcohol control Sweden ever had: not full prohibition, but enough to push thousands of litres of 96% export spirit through the archipelago every night. You walk it as a set, through dark quaysides, a shady doctor's clinic, a seedy restaurant and an illegal nightclub. Anyone who has missed Systembolaget's Saturday closing has felt a small version of the problem.

Director Christer Mellstrand calls it "very visual, fun and somewhat comedic", over a grim story. It is included in the museum ticket, with a free 10 to 15 minute English intro tour hourly from 11:30 to 19:30. The Dry Run, a 45 to 60 minute clue game, is sold at the entrance. Open until 22:00 daily.

Ez galdu

Malmberg's fog machine
The big-time smuggler Karl Georg Malmberg rigged a fog machine on his boat to hide from customs behind a smokescreen.
The flask on his back
Horse trader Ivar Severin Jansson sold bootleg spirits on the street from a flask he carried on his body.
Storkevan's exploding still
Look for the moonshiner known as Storkevan, whose home distillery blew up in the middle of Gamla stan.
The hidden compartment
A secret smuggler's compartment built into the set, where guided-tour groups refill their 1920s-style light grog.