Cliff Burton Museum set to open in Ljungby, Sweden

The municipality of Ljungby in Sweden has announced the opening of the Cliff Burton Museum, a partially government-funded building set up as a tribute to the late Metallica bassist.

Burton lost his life in a coach crash near Ljungby in 1986, while Metallica were touring Europe with Anthrax. A memorial stone was installed near the crash site by the band's Swedish fanclub a decade ago, and the area regularly attracts metal fans keen to honor his memory. 

The museum will include pictures, albums, posters and tickets, along with interviews and photos from the first photographer at the crash site – Lennart Wennberg of the newspaper Expressen – plus a film of recollections from first responders at the crash scene.

Other exhibits include a stage that recreates Metallica’s last gig with Burton in Stockholm, with copies of the bass and drum kit he and Lars Ulrich used.

As the organisers tell GW, “We primarily want to honor Cliff Burton, who died so tragically in the middle of his career, and talk about who he was as a person and a musician.

“Our second main purpose is to create a meeting place for all those who seek the memorial site in the small community of Dörarp. We want to continue the fine work that the fans started when they started raising funds to make Cliff's memorial stone.”

Details of the Museum's launch event on Saturday 14 May can be found on Instagram. Bass Player magazine editor Joel McIver, who wrote a 2009 biography on Burton featuring a foreword by Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, will be delivering a talk on the late icon's life and work.