Junibacken is a children’s attraction, founded by

Staffan Götestam Per Staffan Götestam (born 20 May 1952 in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden) is a Swedish actor, director, theatre chief, playwright and founder of Junibacken. He is best known as Jonatan in ''The Brothers Lionheart''. He is brother to Birgitta Götestam ...

, Fredrik Uhrström and Peder Wallenberg. It is situated on the island of

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, ''Kungliga Djurgården'' (), is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. It was officially opened by the

Swedish royal family The Swedish royal family ( sv, Svenska kungafamiljen) since 1818 has consisted of members of the Swedish Royal House of Bernadotte, closely related to the King of Sweden. Today those who are recognized by the government are entitled to royal ti ...

on 8 June 1996. It is Stockholm’s 5th most-visited tourist attraction. It is devoted to Swedish children’s literature, but especially

Astrid Lindgren Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren (; ; 14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002) was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for several children's book series, featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil of Lönneberga, Karlsson-on- ...

. Outside the building is a bronze statue of Lindgren. The art direction and images for the interior design were made by Swedish artist

Marit Törnqvist Marit Törnqvist (born January 19, 1964) is a Swedish-Dutch author, artist and illustrator. She was best known for her illustrations in the books of Astrid Lindgren. Life and career Marit Törnqvist is the daughter of Egil Törnqvist, a profess ...

, who had previously made illustrations for more recent versions of Lindgren's books. Junibacken contains the largest children’s bookstore in Sweden. The lockers in the entrance hall are unusual in that each is in the form of a giant book-spine, featuring world classics such as

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

and

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, ...

. Other main attractions include a Storybook Square, a mock public square where each house is devoted to a separate Swedish children’s author (other than Lindgren), from the earliest writers such as

Elsa Beskow Elsa Beskow ( Maartman; 11February 187430June 1953) was a famous Swedish author and illustrator of children's books. Among her better known books are ''Tale of the Little Little Old Woman'' and ''Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender''. Back ...

to recent writers such as

Sven Nordqvist Sven Otto Rickard Nordqvist (born 30 April 1946) is a Swedish writer and illustrator of children's books, best known for his series Pettson and Findus, about the old farmer Pettson and his talented cat Findus. He is also active as a comic artis ...

. The square ends at a mock

Vimmerby Vimmerby () is a city status in Sweden, city and the seat of Vimmerby Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 10,934 inhabitants in 2010. Overview Stångån is a small river running through the city. Vimmerby had its charter as early as the f ...

railway station. The station also presents framed copies of Lindgren memorabilia, including a glowing letter of praise for Lindgren from then president of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

. From the station visitors then take a theme-train ride through the world of Astrid Lindgren’s books, with one “stage setting” for each of her well-known works, such as

Madicken Madicken is a fictional character created by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Madicken appeared in six books, two films — '' Du är inte klok Madicken'' (1979) (''You're out of your mind, Maggie'') and ''Madicken på Junibacken'' (1980) (''M ...

Karlsson-on-the-Roof Karlsson-on-the-Roof ( sv, link=no, Karlsson på taket) is a character who figures in a series of children's books by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Translated books and cartoon adaptation of the series became popular in the Soviet Union wh ...

Ronia the Robber's Daughter ''Ronia, the Robber's Daughter'' ( Swedish: ''Ronja rövardotter'') is a children's fantasy book by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, first published in 1981. The book has been adapted as a prize-winning 1984 film, a Danish and a German musi ...

Emil i Lönneberga ''Emil of Lönneberga'' (from Swedish: ''Emil i Lönneberga'') is a series of children's novels, written by Astrid Lindgren in 1963, 1966 and 1970 respectively, about the prankster Emil Svensson who lives on a farm in the Lönneberga village of ...

, and

The Brothers Lionheart ''The Brothers Lionheart'' ( sv, Bröderna Lejonhjärta) is a children's fantasy novel written by Astrid Lindgren. Well established as one of the most widely read and beloved books for children in Sweden, it was originally published in the autumn ...

. The train ride ends at a half-side reconstruction of

Villa Villekulla Villa Villekulla is a fictional house that is the home of Pippi Longstocking, a character in a series of books. She lives there with her horse and monkey, Mr. Nilsson. Outside stands a tree that grows Sockerdricka, a soft drink sold in Sweden. ...

, the home of Lindgren's most well-known character,

Pippi Longstocking Pippi Longstocking ( sv, Pippi Långstrump) is the fictional main character in an eponymous series of children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Pippi was named by Lindgren's daughter Karin, who asked her mother for a get-well story wh ...

. Junibacken includes a theatre, restaurant and temporary exhibition space. The temporary exhibition space is usually devoted to a single author or character and normally remains in place for 11 months. Among the most popular of the temporary exhibitions have been

Pettson and Findus Pettson and Findus ( sv, Pettson och Findus) is a series of children's books written and illustrated by Swedish author Sven Nordqvist. The books feature an old farmer (Pettson) and his cat (Findus) who live in a small ramshackle farmhouse in the c ...

, and Trazan och Banarne. Junibacken is not a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

according to ICOM's definition because it has no collections. It is, however, a member of both Swedish ICOM and Riksförbundet Sveriges museer.Medlemsförteckning
, sverigesmuseer.se. Retrieved 1 July 2016.

Changes

In 2006, the dragon scene in the Story Train was modified to become less scary. Originally, the dragon scene featured the guests passing in front of Katla, seeing her from very close. It was changed because it scared many children who rode the Story Train. It broke down the same year it was changed. In the new dragon scene, the guests see Katla at a distance, from Skorpan's and Jonathan's point of view. Another difference is that the old dragon moved a little, roaring as the guests saw her. It was made of Latex. The new dragon does not move and is made of metal.

References

Amina Adelai.
Vikingaliv slår upp portarna
, svt.se, 28 april 2017. Åtkomst den 28 april 2017.

External links

Junibacken’s own web site

Panorama from Junibacken at Virtualsweden
{{coord, 59, 19, 46, N, 18, 05, 20, E, type:landmark, display=title Astrid Lindgren 1996 establishments in Sweden