A great experience at the re-opening of Nationalmuseum

The well visited re-opening was held at the quay of Blasieholmen, in front of the museum. In attendance were the Swedish royal family, the Minister for Culture and a number of artists. Briab Crowd Management got the job of planning and executing the management of all the crowd flows during the re-opening.

“Our aim was to enable the best possible experience, with a high level of clarity and short waiting times,” says Petter Säterhed, head of Crowd Management of Briab. For us, and the client, it was important that as many people as possible got the chance to experience all the things, both old and new, at the Nationalmuseum.

The Briab team analyzed and planned the event and the crowd logistics, designed a physical solution and a methodology. Before and during the event, staff was trained to be able to handle a detailed schedule with many critical points, such as logistics regarding the security service, royal family, royal guards, artists etc. But also so they could handle a long and intensive day, from 7 am to 9 pm, with strict requirements in terms of clarity, efficiency and a good experience for thousands of visitors. Thanks to some 20 specially trained hosts and a modular line-up system, lines were kept short and spirits were kept high, for 17,000 art-interested visitors and various royalties, over the entire weekend.

“Everyone was really happy with the weekend – including the visitors as well as the Nationalmuseum, which was client for both us and Briab,” says Lisa Nilsson from Small World, head project manager for the event.

And after the successful opening weekend, Briab has been entrusted with managing the crowd flows and line-ups over the following weekends.

“It’s fantastic. So far we’ve let roughly 50,000 people into the Nationalmuseum, and the attendance rates have hardly decreased. Being part of a high-profile experience like the Nationalmuseum is challenging, but also rewarding. From the outside it’s obviously about managing thousands of people, but it’s also vital to never forget that what counts is the experience of every single individual, even after the spotlights from the re-opening have been switched off,” says Petter Säterhed.