The government has tasked the National Antiquities Office with the task of planning for a cultural protection council that will strengthen, for example, museums’ ability to handle a war situation. And in September, the National Antiquities Authority held a preparedness exercise with 23 of the country’s museums in dealing with an emergency situation that threatens the collections.
Only a small part can be evacuated
Many museums have very large collections. The Historical Museum has ten million objects, the National Museum 700,000. Only a small percentage could be evacuated to a safe and secret place somewhere in Sweden.
Objects of significance to the Swedish nation-state have traditionally been prioritized, they may be particularly interesting for an enemy to destroy or rob. In theory, therefore, a painting by Carl Larsson would be prioritized over, for example, a Rembrandt. In practice, however, the significance of an object for world heritage must be weighed.
See how the National Museum and the Vasa Museum reason about the cultural treasures in the clip above.