To paraphrase Joe Strummer: Beatlemania has bitten the dust. The Hamburg, Germany museum of the same name will be shutting its doors at the end of the month.
The Beatles-themed facility, which houses over 1,000 pieces of Fab Four memorabilia, opened in 2009, but apparently hasn't received enough interest to make the museum a financially viable tourist attraction.
Speaking with Hamburger Morgenpost [via NME], manager Folkert Koopmanns said that the museum has only had 150,000 people pass through its doors since it opened.
"In view of the high deficits, there is no solution left but closure, if you want to act responsibly," he said. "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."
The closure seemed especially sad for Koopmanns since the Beatles' early career had them playing residencies at bars along the city's then fabled and filthy Reeperbahn.
"We had many hopes and wishes, unfortunately, only some of them were fulfilled in the city which John Lennon used to say he became an adult."
The Beatles-themed facility, which houses over 1,000 pieces of Fab Four memorabilia, opened in 2009, but apparently hasn't received enough interest to make the museum a financially viable tourist attraction.
Speaking with Hamburger Morgenpost [via NME], manager Folkert Koopmanns said that the museum has only had 150,000 people pass through its doors since it opened.
"In view of the high deficits, there is no solution left but closure, if you want to act responsibly," he said. "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."
The closure seemed especially sad for Koopmanns since the Beatles' early career had them playing residencies at bars along the city's then fabled and filthy Reeperbahn.
"We had many hopes and wishes, unfortunately, only some of them were fulfilled in the city which John Lennon used to say he became an adult."
