Tiny Mouse Shops of Malmö

For most human beings, finding a nice place for a night out is fairly easy. For mice it can be a bit trickier, unless they happen to be living in Malmö, Sweden.

Built into the basement windows of a building on the corner of Bergsgatan and Almbacksgatan are two mouse-sized and mouse-targeted restaurants, Noix de Vie (“Nuts of Life”) and Il Topolino (the Italian name for Mickey Mouse). Each storefront is about 12 by 25 inches.

The former has luxuriously displayed nuts in the window. The latter, with a classic red and white awning and red and white checkered table cloths, is cheese-themed and has a tiny menu on the wall by the door (next to a bit of mouse graffiti that looks like a Guy Fawkes mask crossed with Mickey Mouse), listing cheeses and crackers the mice might have at the restaurant. 

They are the work of the artist (or maybe artist collective) Anonymouse MMX. Anonymouse dreamed up and built the miniature restaurants using materials like matches, buttons, caps, lids, and stamps—i.e., materials that mice would be able to collect and use to build their own establishments.

Other attractions soon followed, including a little fun fair (or amousement park) on Södra Förstadsgatan, named Tjoffsans Tivoli after one of Swedish children's book writer Astrid Lindgren’s most famous characters. The fair has a literal teacup ride, a couple of games (including “Lucky Cheese”), a house of horrors entered through a cat’s mouth, a Ferris wheel, and a psychic who not only looks into a crystal ball, but does paw readings as well.