Norwegian Folk Museum
This is Norway’s largest museum of cultural history with collections of objects from around the country and more than 150 buildings in the open air museum. The purpose of this cultural place is to show how locals used to live from 1500 until present, showing differences from region to region and from class to class. The outdoor museum is simply breathtaking great to walk through it in the summer. One of the main attractions is the Gol Stave Church (Gol Stavkirke) dating from 1200.
The indoor museum hosts various permanent and temporary art, crafts and cultural expositions all year long. Some of the most interesting is the one around Easter time where you get to see how Easter is celebrated all over Norway, and the Sami culture is fascinating to see.
Since the museum tries very hard to reproduce many aspects of how people used to live, many of the houses – otherwise closed in the winter – are open during summertime for visitors and actors play the roles of inhabitants. They get dressed in national costumes and do the work specific for the area and age of the house, from farming to sewing, producing silver jewelry or pottery.
In the museum area, a small shop cells specialities with old wrappings. And in some of the houses, during the summer you can tasted the traditional sweet ”lefse”, warm on salty butter on top. Or you can catch a ride in a horse pulled carriage.
The Norwegian Folk Museum was founded in December 19, 1894. The museum also work with educators to prepare and plan for teaching and learning in the museum environment, and the staff will do every effort to help you tailor your visit to your curricular needs. there, your students can explore, discover and learn in an enriching and inspiring environment. Enjoy!
