Margaretha Krook stands outside Dramaten

Margaretha Krook stands outside the Dramaten theatre, at the corner where she often stood to warm herself in the sun and have a cigarette during her breaks. The statue was commissioned by Marie-Louise Ekman and unveiled on 17 May 2002, which was Dramaten’s 214th birthday, just over a year after Krook’s passing.

The bronze statue is 185 centimeters tall and deliberately portrait-like. She is dressed in a quilted jacket, long trousers, and sturdy shoes. Her head and shoulders are draped in a large shawl, which her colleague Jan-Olof Strandberg described as representing a diva who wanted to be seen while simultaneously hiding from the world. For pedagogical reasons, Ekman chose not to depict her with a cigarette.

Inside the statue is a heating system that keeps the sculpture at 37 degrees and free of snow. This was intended to represent the warmth that Margaretha Krook radiated and to provide warmth to passersby. This has led to visitors often patting her stomach and her characteristic nose until they became shiny.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons