A traveling exhibit on Swedish pop group Abba will get a permanent home when "Abba the Museum" opens as part of the Swedish music hall of fame in Stockholm next spring, The Associated Press reports.
The ABBAWORLD exhibit toured Europe and Australia between 2009-11, and is filled with the band's stage costumes, instruments and other memorabilia.
Former band member Björn Ulvaeus announced the museum plans today. Ulvaeus said that while he hopes his fellow members Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad would attend the opening, he ruled out any possibility of a stage reunion.
"We are the only group of that status that has never been reunited. I think that is cool," Ulvaeus said at a press conference. "It is a strength for Abba that you remember those young, ambitious, energetic people during the Seventies rather than some feeble old folks who feel compelled to get up and play all the time."
Plans for some kind of Abba museum have long been considered, though previous attempts ended up falling through. This time, though, things are moving ahead, with the museum's home already under construction near a theme park on Djurgarden, an island in central Stockholm.
Although Ulvaeus noted that he had been apprehensive about becoming "a museum artifact before I'm dead," he added that he liked the idea of Abba being included in a hall of fame that celebrated other Swedish musicians.
Group members went back into their closets to dig up some of their more outrageous costumes to strengthen the exhibit: "I had one costume that I particularly remember that was some kind of Superman leotard with a cape," said Ulvaeus. "It makes me sick when I see it."
