Monument, minne, museum : Stockholms slott under det långa 1900-talet

Sammanfattning: This study examines how the Royal Palace of Stockholm gradually, from 1880–2000, became established as a monument in art and cultural history, as well as a site of national heritage. The musealisation process of the royal residence is described by analysing the origin of new museal and exhibition milieus, and changes in the palace’s State and Bernadotte Apartments. These measures were taken to enhance and manage this cultural heritage and to make it accessible by using art historical and antiquarian expertise. The thesis discusses the origins of the Palace Museum (1936), Gustav III’s Museum of Antiquities (1958, 1992), the Treasury (1970), the Royal Armoury (1978) and the Tre Kronor Museum (1999). Two periods of consolidation are discernible. First, the façade restoration of 1898–1902, during the reign of king Oskar II, and the completion of the sculpture programme make manifest the late 19th- century positioning of the Tessin palace as a national heritage site. With the appointment of the art historian John Böttiger as Surveyor of the Royal Collections, the king’s commitment to the royal collections led to both object-based scientific research and new conservation practices. Second, collection and exhibition activities evolved during the reign of king Gustaf VI Adolf, 1950–1973, with pronounced educational ambitions and democratic characteristics. The study illuminates the contributions of the palace architects, the role of the Office of the Governor of the Royal Palace and the relationship with the state-run Nationalmuseum and Royal Armoury, which have contributed to continuity in the presentation of historic collections. The thesis demonstrates the importance of art history writing for museal and restoration practices, particularly Stockholms slotts historia 1–3 (1940–1941), a publication decisive in the restoration work in the State and Bernadotte Apartments from the 1940s until the 1970s. The study examines the palace’s dual function as a national monument and royal residence, and how this has been a condition of the musealisation process. Important analytical concepts in the study are musealisation, institutionalisation, professionalisation and scientisation.