From December 26th 1996 to April 1st 1997 the National Museum will house the exhibition
MARGRETE I
In 1997 we can celebrate the fact that it was 600 years ago that the three Nordic kingdoms of Denmark, Norway (including Iceland and Greenland) and Sweden (including Finland) were united in a political union under Queen Margrete I. This came about in the summer of 1397 at Kalmar Castle, when the young Erik of Pomerania, Margrete's adopted son, was crowned king of all three realms. The Kalmar Union lasted, apart from a few brief intervals, until 1521, and Denmark and Norway remained united until 1814. The banners of the Kalmar union.On the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the union the Nordic Council of Ministers will support a major exhibition which will be shown in four Nordic countries in turn. The exhibition is organized by the National Museum of Denmark where it will be shown from December 26th 1996. The patrons of the exhibition are Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, King Harald V of Norway, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and the Presidents of Finland and Iceland. Based on Margrete I the exhibition portrays the period's cultural history and depicts one of the most significant women of the Middle Ages. Even though it was Erik of Pomerania who was crowned monarch of the three Nordic kingdoms, the union was Margrete's creation, and she was its actual ruler until her death in 1412. The departure-point of the exhibition is a political event: the meeting in Kalmar in 1397. The power-structures involved in the kingdoms within the Nordic union will be sketched out and the original Union documents will be exhibited. The exhibition includes objects from more than 50 museums and institutions and thus promises an extensive display of the period. Mail hood with scull, Visby 1361. Statens historiska Museum, Stockholm. For further information and photographs please contact Helle Damsgård: tel. +45 33 47 38 06, fax +45 33 47 33 30 or e-mail |