Throughout history, humans have faced challenges in understanding, managing and fighting viruses. The museum’s new mini-exhibition Contagious explores the work of Nobel Prize-awarded scientists who have increased our knowledge of viruses, mapped our immune system and developed vaccines. Contagious also focuses on the perspectives of Laureates in Economic Sciences on pandemics. The impact of epidemics on societies and people has also been portrayed by Literature Laureates through acclaimed works that are highlighted in the exhibition.
On 2 July, the Nobel Prize Museum on Stortorget, the main square in Stockholm’s Old Town, will reopen. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
“Museums have an important role to play in times of crisis, because we can help people deal with existential issues and provide a broader context. The Nobel Prize Museum is about ideas that change the world. If there is anything that the Nobel Prize demonstrates, it is precisely humankind’s ability to find solutions to the difficult challenges we face again and again. This gives us hope in the midst of crisis,” says Erika Lanner, Director of the Nobel Prize Museum.
Like other museums that are reopening in Sweden, the Nobel Prize Museum will take steps to enable visitors to follow the recommendations of the Swedish Public Health Agency, for example on social distancing in the museum. The museum has been closed since mid-March and will now be open from Thursdays through Sundays between 11.00 and 17.00 until further notice.
The museum is also displaying the exhibition For the Greatest Benefit to Humankind, which showcases Nobel Prize-awarded achievements that save lives, feed humanity, protect the planet and bring people together. Visitors can learn more about Alfred Nobel, be inspired by artefacts that Nobel Laureates have donated to the museum over the years or buy Nobel-related items in the museum shop. In the Bubble Chamber, children can experiment and learn, read and fantasise. The museum’s Bistro serves items like coffee and Nobel ice cream for hot days.
Here you can visit the new mini-exhibition digitally: https://nobelprizemuseum.se/en/contagious/
Opening hours until further notice
Thursday – Sunday, 11.00 – 17.00 CEST
For further information
Rebecka Oxelström, Head of Press
rebecka.oxelstrom@nobelprize.org, + 46 73 412 66 75
About the Nobel Prize Museum
The Nobel Prize shows that ideas can change the world. The courage, creativity and perseverance of the Nobel Laureates inspire us and give us hope for the future. Videos, in-depth guided tours and donated artefacts tell the stories of the Laureates and their contributions for the greatest benefit to humankind. Based on the Nobel Prize’s unique combination of fields – natural sciences, literature and peace – we examine the greatest challenges of our time and show how we can respond to them through science, humanism and collaboration. Through our exhibitions, school programmes, lectures and conversations, we at the Nobel Prize Museum would like to generate public engagement for a better world. Today we are located at Stortorget in Stockholm’s Old Town (Gamla stan). In the future, we will be creating a new home for our public activities at Slussen in central Stockholm.