True Crime

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.