Bornholms Museum, Skrive Museum and Naturkraft report that the museums are closed over the winter due to the high energy costs, writes the Danish Museums organisation.

Museum Sønderjylland is also closing three departments.

It is also stated that some museums have been forced to lay off staff.

The museums' interest organization in the country is now requesting urgent financial support to be able to deal with the situation.

- In the same way that we received help during the corona, we are calling for some kind of aid package to be able to preserve the cultural heritage, says Nils M. Jensen, head of the Danish Museums organization, to Ritzau.

- If nothing happens, I expect we will see more closures and more redundancies.

Half of the 172 member museums report significant cost increases due to electricity prices.

The problem, according to Jensen, is that the museums cannot always turn down the heat in the collections, because sensitive objects require a certain humidity and temperature.

In September, the Swedish government tasked all state museums with reducing electricity use.

In a survey from Sweden's Museums, 55 percent of the 79 museums that responded stated that they would change the lighting, 46 percent planned to lower the temperature and 17 percent stated that it may be appropriate to close parts of the business.