Gothenburg Mall Removes "Mohammed" From Floor Art After Complaints

GOTHENBURG - An artwork set into the floor of Gothenburg's biggest shopping centre was meant to tell the story of the city's people over four centuries. Then the name Mohammed was engraved into it - and complaints with a religious motive followed. After objections that the name should not be walked on, the management of the Nordstan mall had the brass plate removed.

Since 2021, shoppers at Nordstan in central Gothenburg have been able to walk across a large artwork in which ordinary Gothenburgers' first names and birth years are engraved in brass plates set into the stone floor.

The work, created by artist Pål Svensson, consists of around 27,000 granite slabs and close to 300 brass plates with the names of people born in Gothenburg from the 1600s onwards.

The idea was to show how the city's population has changed over the centuries, not least through immigration from different parts of the world. But one of the names turned out to be controversial.

"Should Not Be Trampled On"

When the artwork was extended in 2026, one of the new names was Mohammed, taken from a boy born in Gothenburg in the 2010s.

It did not take long before the mall's management began receiving objections to the name being placed somewhere people walk every day. The reason was the name's religious link to Islam's prophet Muhammad. Some of those who got in touch felt it was inappropriate that people could step on it.

Nordstan's press contact Anna Gustafsson confirmed to the newspaper Göteborgs-Posten that the complaints led to the plate being removed.

"We have received comments about the placement of the name Mohammed in the floor, with reference to the special significance the name has within Islam," she wrote in a statement to the paper.

Nordstan will not say how many people complained or who they were. Gustafsson said the mall's representatives had been in contact with some of them, and the company then chose to meet their wishes and take the name out of the artwork.

A Real Gothenburg Boy

Svensson worked with others to find first names from different periods of Gothenburg's history, going through public archives to trace people born in the city over the past four hundred years. When the work was unveiled in 2021 it held 238 names. More were added from recent generations in 2026.

According to the artist, the aim was never to honour any religious figure. The name Mohammed referred to a real boy born in Gothenburg.

"The name is taken from the boy who was given it. The project is only about who has lived in Gothenburg, who was born here. I think the idea is very good," he told Göteborgs-Posten.

Svensson defends the original concept but has accepted the mall's decision. The plate bearing the name Mohammed is now gone from the floor.