The Swedish government-financed Museum of World Culture (Varldskultur Museet) opened in 2004. The museum integrates historical and ethnographical museum collections with the examination and development of contemporary global issues and ideas. Designed by Brisac Gonzalez Architecture of London, the six-story museum building houses five exhibition galleries and a research library.
The Varldskultur Museet traces its origins to the various ethnographic collections that have been part of Gothenburg's museum landscape since the nineteenth century, particularly those under the care of the city's Ethnographical Museum (Etnografiska Museet). The collection and documentation efforts of a multitude of researchers, travelers, sea captains, army officers, missionaries, and tradespeole supplied the museum with its original holdings, which were largely derived from Latin America. Collecting became more systematic when Erland Nordenskiöld took over as director of the Ethnographical Museum in 1913. Nordenskiöld undertook a long expedition through Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, which alone yielded more than 4,000 objects, and the collection soon grew to meet international standards. Despite its previous focus on the arts of Latin America, the museum now holds important collections of African and Asian art, and in coming years many of the diverse collections will be brought to the attention of the general public.