Björn Wiman: Hanna Stjärne's departure is a symptom of something worse

As early as 1906, the architect Ferdinand Boberg was commissioned to design a "Nobel Palace" at Djurgårdsbron in Stockholm.

The project was discontinued. Too expensive.

So it has continued. The disputed gold facade on Blasieholmen had to be shelved when King Carl XVI Gustaf stepped in and called off the battle with the argument that he "felt sorry for the Customs House". The new Nobel Center at Slussen, with construction scheduled to start next year, has been marred by dissatisfaction and the usual whining, but the fact remains: Sweden still lacks a decent landmark building for our country's perhaps foremost contribution to the international intellectual community.

It is in this perspective that one should see the events surrounding Hanna Stjärne's departure as CEO of the Nobel Foundation and chairman of the Nobel Center, which DN was able to reveal on Friday. To the external criticism is now added the risk of delays due to internal friction and question marks about the leadership. A curse seems to rest on all attempts to bring about a building that in all other capitals had long been a matter of course.

And Stockholm? An opera house in disrepair and a Nobel center that exists only as a symbolic bat in the culture war

It is also a symptom of Sweden's failure as a modern cultural nation. The continued fiasco with the unbuilt Nobel Center confirms the picture that the view of culture in our country has often been about saving what can be saved, rather than about the realization of what an investment can mean for a city's and by extension a country's self-esteem.

In Oslo, they are about to create a Scandinavian cultural center with the outstanding opera house in white marble, the Munch Museum, the National Museum and the new Deichman Library. In Helsinki there is the new city library Ode, in Copenhagen both a new opera house and several new symbolic buildings for culture. Almost every medium-sized Swedish city has built beautiful and modern cultural centers and libraries in recent years.

And Stockholm? An opera house in disrepair and a Nobel center that exists only as a symbolic bat in the culture war.

Why does it have to be so difficult? A cultural prestige building of this kind would be a way for Swedish society, both politics and business, to create a monument to science, literature and peace - in an age that seems to hate all these phenomena. It is equally scandalous and symptomatic that a Nobel Center in Stockholm still seems as remote as the formation of a Swedish government.

Just make sure to get it built. Preferably yesterday.