Beatles Museum to Close in Hamburg
A large part of the story of the early days of the Beatles is the time they spent playing seedy clubs in Hamburg, Germany. Unfortunately, the interest in the “Fab Four” is not as prominent in the city as it once was. NME is reporting that the Beatles’ museum located in Hamburg is set to shutter its doors at the end of the month.
The five-story Beatlemania museum opened in 2009 to pay homage to the legacy the band had in the city. In all, it housed over 1,000 pieces of Beatles memorabilia. To make it even more special, the museum was erected in the same area where the band used to play their shows in the early ’60s.
But despite the effort put into making the museum attractive, manager Folkert Koopmanns told German newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost that only 150,000 visitors had attended since the opening three years ago and the costs to keep the museum running had become an issue.
He added, “In view of the high deficits, there is no solution left but closure if you want to act responsibly. A privately-run museum as big as Beatlemania is condemned to fail without public support. That’s a fact that we fought against until enthusiasm turned into resignation – a bitter experience.”