Visit to the Norwegian cultural heritage museum in Oslo (Norsk Folkemuseum)

Last Sunday we took a little family excursion to  the Norwegian cultural heritage museum in Oslo (Norsk folkemuseum). The museum is open most of the year and while it must be amazing to visit it during the summer, it was actually quite nice to go in early spring as there was almost nobody there; at least when we first arrived right when it opened at 11am. The 7^th of April is still a little fresh so we only stayed about 3 hours, but by  the time we left the parking lot was already packed full with cars, so we were happy we had arrived extra early and this also gave me the chance to take some photos without tourists in the background.

The main attraction of the museum would be the stave church from the 1200’s, a  wooden church covered in dripping tar, with wooden engraving and a peculiar smell of old, very old wood…. Inside it’s small, dark and cold, you can feel it is very ancient and it makes you think about the lives of people so long ago who would have found comfort and solace but also firm rules and guidelines for their lives in the teaching and instruction of the church. 

Life then must have been hard with little comfort, as is seen in the other exhibitions and houses from the distant and near past that make up the rest of the open air museum. 

As you walk along the paths you can see and in some cases enter small timber houses, barns, stabburs and other farm buildings, then an Oslo building with eight apartments spanning over a century makes an interesting discussion point regarding how our style of living has changed. But what was special for me personally was entering the small homes of the average working family with low roofs, and tight living quarters from the beginning to middle of last century. It reminded me so much of the little red house from 1824 we lived in for 8 years when our children were small, and where Rosaline was born. 

Next time I would like to book a guided tour as some of the buildings are not open to the general public. Also on the wish list is to visit the gardens and the new exhibition about life in Finnmark during the great war; which will  open later on in the year.

Stave church from Gol, from circa the 1200's

Details of the entrance

You could see the thick layers of tar that preserve this old wooden church

Small timber house

Inside the timber house

Old Stabbur. These were small wooden houses which were traditionaly used on farms for storing food items.

Replica of a city street from the turn of the 1800's

Nostalgia - An old Beetle and gas station

Lot's of lovely liverwort (blåveis) on the grounds at this time of year.