According to Danish newspaper Sjaellandske Nyheder, Rasmus Stavnsborg, 53, from Solrød, Denmark, is the owner of what is believed to be the world’s largest collection of Iron Maiden memorabilia. More than 10,000 items dedicated to the legendary British heavy metal band are spread across six rooms of his villa in Solrød Strand — floor to ceiling with memorabilia, pinball machines, a homemade Iron Maiden bar, drums, incense sticks, and countless other objects, all featuring the band’s iconic mascot, Eddie.
Stavnsborg first dreamed of creating his own version of a Hard Rock Café as a child after visiting the famous restaurant chain — only his would be devoted entirely to Iron Maiden. The collection originally occupied a 100-square-meter basement in the family’s former home in Karlslunde. Around 12 years ago, it outgrew the space, prompting Stavnsborg, his partner, and daughter to move to Solrød Strand, where the collection grew from around 5,000 items to more than 10,000.
Among the most unusual items is a cigarette butt once smoked by former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno. Stavnsborg and his friends retrieved it after meeting Di’Anno at a bar. “He asked what on Earth we were doing and what we were going to use it for. We just said we were going to clone him one day when he died, and then he shook his head and said we were some strange idiots,” Stavnsborg recalls. Di’Anno died in 2024.
The stories behind the objects are as important to Stavnsborg as the objects themselves. “If I just wanted to buy things to plaster the place with Iron Maiden stuff, that would be the easiest thing in the world. But I like that things have a story, whether it’s personal or connected to the band,” he says. “A hunter hangs dead animals on the walls. I hang Iron Maiden things on the walls that I’ve hunted around the world.”
Stavnsborg has attended more than 300 Iron Maiden concerts since first seeing the band at Copenhagen’s KB Hallen in 1988. During the band’s 2006 “A Matter of Life and Death” tour, his dedication earned him an official “Super Fan Pass” granting him free admission to every concert on the tour. “I was completely overwhelmed. It’s an insane recognition to get from a band,” he says.
Stavnsborg appears in the new documentary Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition, which premiered in early May and explores the band’s history and the devotion of fans around the world. His plans this year include shows in Sweden, Denmark, Paris, London, Los Angeles, Peru, and Ecuador, with a hike to Machu Picchu also on the itinerary. “We experience the world together, and it brings us closer together as a family,” he says.
