Between 1984 and 2001, cultural history summer exhibitions were organised at Börstorp Castle outside Mariestad. It was the then director of Skaraborg County Museum, Ulf Erik Hagberg, together with the owners Bo and Danielle Ribbing, who created the conditions for the uninhabited castle to become an arena for regular exhibitions.
For Skaraborg County Museum, the exhibitions at Börstorp became a concrete example of how to spread the museum’s activities throughout the county.
In the first year, an exhibition focusing on the castle’s own history was shown, with most of the artefacts being the family’s own or borrowed from the county museum and from private individuals. The very next year, however, the situation was different. At that time, the county museum was able to borrow a large amount of furniture and artefacts from Carl XV’s interiors at Ulriksdal Palace outside Stockholm to be exhibited at Börstorp.
The exhibitions continued over the years until summer 2001, each year with a new theme. For example, it could be “flowers in art” or “games through the ages”. Always with objects borrowed from the major state museums, from Skaraborg County Museum and, not least, from many of the manor houses in Skaraborg.
The exhibition in the Atrium of Västergötlands museum in summer 2024 will tell the story of the exhibitions and how they came about. This year is also the 40th anniversary of the start of the organisation. Since a large part of the objects used in Börstorp’s exhibitions were taken from the then County Museum, now Västergötlands museum, we will be able to show several of these.
The exhibition is both beautiful and rich in artefacts, and is likely to evoke memories in people from the region who have visited Börstorp’s exhibitions.
The exhibition will be on display from 1 June – 8 September 2024 in the Atrium of Västergötlands museum.
Gallery
