Fortress malmö is a castle located in the city of malmö skåne in southern Sweden. The first building of the fortress was built in 1434 by king Erik of Pomerania with the purpose of strengthening the protection of the city against possible threats from the sea. This castle was demolished in the early 16th century, and a new one was erected in its place in 1530 by the Danish king Christian III. Historically, the fortress malmö was one of the most important strongholds of Denmark.

For five years (from 1568 to 1573 year) the castle was the place of imprisonment of James Hepburn, the 4th Earl of Bothwell, third husband of Mary Queen of Scots. The Earl was taken into custody on the orders of Danish king Frederick II, when his ship ran aground during a storm in the Norwegian Bergen. He was sent to imprisonment in the fortress of malmö despite the fact that earlier he was released from the tower of London for lack of corpus delicti in murder of second husband of Mary, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. This act of historians explain the fact that being unmarried Frederick II courted Queen Elizabeth I and was even made a knight of the order of the Garter. However, some sources point to the second reason of his participation in this matter: he is believed to have hoped to get from Scotland a ransom for the prisoner.

In 1828 the fortress malmö is completely losing its importance as a military Fort and becomes a prison. Later buildings of the fortress were used as emergency housing. In fact, the building of the castle was restored in 1928, and it gives us an idea of how it looked at 1500-1600 years. In 1937 the Museum was founded. Three prison barracks have since been demolished and replaced with the existing Museum buildings.