Sweden's ABBA museum to open, but reunion rumors quashed

Bjorn Ulvaeus, former member of the Swedish pop group ABBA, is photographed during a press preview of 'ABBA The Museum' at the Swedish Music Hall of Fame in Stockholm, May 6, 2013.[Photo/Agencies]

The catchy tunes, outlandish costumes and shimmering boots that made ABBA a global phenomenon all feature in a new museum dedicated to the band, but rumors the exhibition may presage a reunion by Sweden's most famous export were quickly quashed.

Photos: 'ABBA The Museum' to open

The permanent exhibition within a hall of fame of Swedish pop music opens in Stockholm this week and organizers hope to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors annually on a pop nostalgia trip.

Visitors will be able to sing along to ABBA hits alongside life size holograms of the group - and then download the images to their web account.

"I would be interested, even if I hated ABBA, about how it actually happened and why," former ABBA member Bjorn Ulvaeus said on Monday at the museum.

Ulvaeus, now a 68-year-old grandfather, rejected suggestions the opening could coincide with the band reuniting. A British bookmaker was taking bets in April on an ABBA comeback after singer Agnetha Faltskog hinted at a possible reunion.

"As you all know we have never reunited," Ulvaeus said. "So I take this opportunity to say now we are not going to either."

ABBA, made up of Ulvaeus, Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, shot to fame when they won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Waterloo".

To revive their heyday, the museum has a 1970s disco dance floor to practice your moves, audition recordings for a "fifth" member of the band and the opportunity to sit inside the famous helicopter that featured on the "Arrival" album cover.