Fotomuseet Olympia

The main focus of the photography museum lies on the extensive collection of about 1,000, partly rare historical photo cameras. In addition, there are numerous other objects that show the development of photography from 1840 to the present day. Most of the cameras date back to a time when photography was exclusively a matter of professional photographers and some well-to-do hobby photographers who could afford the very expensive equipment of the time.

The collection shows a large number of 19th century Laterna Magica, followed by large cameras with wooden bodies from the turn of the century, folding cameras from the years 1910 to 1920, bellows and box cameras from the 1930s and 1940s, the first mechanical 35 mm cameras from the 1950s and 1960s, and today's fully automatic cameras.

Other items besides the camera collection

These are joined by some rare special equipment such as tropical cameras, miniature cameras, equipment for stereo photography and medical photography as well as unique photographs by Lennart Nilsson and Gillis Häägg.

Furthermore there is a photo collection of 30 albums with historical pictures from Falkenberg and its surroundings as well as a number of rare photographs of Selma Lagerlöf. With some colour images taken in 1907 by the famous photographer Axel Aurelius, the museum has probably the oldest preserved colour photographs in Sweden.

Apart from the photography there is a collection with mechanical tin toys as well as 600 tin tablet boxes. In itself, the building would already be a museum without the exhibits, as it was extensively renovated using historical methods and materials to restore it to the exact state it was when it was completed in 1912 for the Olympia, the first cinema in Falkenberg.