find out more about intrepid explorers (Fram Museum (Oslo))

Member Name: siantone

Product:	Fram Museum (Oslo)
Date:	20/05/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: getting up close to the objects and actually being on the ship

Disadvantages: some old fashioned displays with little interpretation

The Fram museum is in fact Roald Amundsen's unique Polar vessel 'Fram' (which means 'Forward' in English). The intrepid Polar explorer Amundsen didn't actually commission the ship, it was commissioned by the older Norwegian explore Fridtjof Nansen in 1892 for his innovative plan to drift across the North Pole. The ship has a rounded bottom, an unsual 'fatness' to it so rather than being pinched and crushed in the ice it would be squeezed up and lifted out of the ice and rest on top, thus being able to drift with the ice. Nansen did not succeed in drifting across the Pole but the ship saw service again when Amundsen asked to borrow the ship from the legendary Nansen.

Amundsen told the world he was going north but in fact he had set his eyes on the South Pole in Antarctica. Capt Scott had announced to the world that he was planning a second expedition south and for reasons open to interpretation, Amundsen kept his plans to head south at the same time as Scott a secret. Amundsen didn't actually tell the world until he was in Maderia, where he sent telegrams. This was a shock to the world and to Scott who was in Melbourne at the time.

Although Fram handled badly in normal seas and it was an uncomfortable journey south, she handled the ice well and Amundsen was able to allow his ship to over winter knowing it wouldn't be crushed by the pack ice. As for the rest of the story, Amundsen and his party reached the Pole before Scott and his men and lived to tell the tale whereas Scott and his men perished.

On board the Fram, visitors can see up close in rather old fashioned but charming displays of Amundsen's material- this includes the Norwegian flag he flew at the South Pole, his wolfskin fur suit, his ski, a medical kit used in Antarctica (with the cocaine drops for snow glare missing) and a gramophone the men used at base camp. The museum also has much material on Nansen and other Scandinavian polar explorers such as Otto Sverdrup.

This museum is an unusal experience being a ship within a building- and a ship you can go on to look at real objects. With its old world charm, you can get up close to many of the objects without alarms going off, which is a great bonus.

Summary: an unusual museum that will tell you much about Norwegian history through polar exploration