Dive into Norse Culture! (Museumsinsel Bygdoy)

Member Name: The Daz

Product:	Museumsinsel Bygdoy
Date:	04/09/08 (197 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Top facilities, great exhibits, well located.

Disadvantages: Which to see first?!

Come with me to Oslo - where there is near perfect Public Transport, everyone is beautiful and young, and the streets are spotless. The Capital of Norway, Oslo has long been a model of good Transport, Urban living and non-threatening Scandinavian loveliness.
This review covers Bygdoy Island and its Museums. Technically a peninsula, Bygdoy is a quiet suburban district to the south west of Oslo's centre, complete with its own beach, leafy avenues and a myriad of culturally and historically important museums.

Right - shameless tourist lure over. On with the specifics of Bygdoy. Easily reached either by Bus 30 from outside the National Theater, or the regular April-September Ferry 91 from the Radhusbrygge (pier next to the City Hall), Bygdoy is readily accessible to the visitor, yet far enough from the bustle of downtown to appear as a tranquil retreat, which would explain the various streets winding away from the main road, inhabited (most likely) by tall and beautiful Norwegians with trendy design jobs and 2 or 3 polite and sporty children.

The best way to see the Museums, and indeed the whole of Oslo - is via the Oslo Pass, a rather spiffy card available for Adults and Children, which comes in 24, 48 and 72 hour versions, costing from about £10 for a 1 day Child Pass, to £40 for a 3 day Adult Pass. This Pass gives you free access to all the Buses, Trams and local Ferries in Oslo, free entry to all of the Museums, and even discounts on Ice Skate hire and entry to the Tusenfryd amusement park. Considering the high cost of Norway (it's as pricey as London, but twelve times cleaner), this Pass represents excellent value.

Beginning with the first Museum you would see when you step off the Ferry -

1. Fram Museum -
A Monster triangular building that commemorates the achievements of the 3 great Norwegian Polar Explorers (Amundsen, Nansen and Sverdrup) and their contemporaries. Most of the building's interior is taken up by the Fram - the famous ship that made 3 great Polar voyages around the turn of the 20th Century. Made from the toughest heartwood, and reinforced with metal, this monstrous Diesel powered, 3 masted Schooner smashed its way through the thickest Ice to reach the North Pole in 1895, and then helped the 3rd expedition reach the South Pole in 1911.

As well as the rather unmissable ship - into which you can climb and explore diorama of the voyage, there are also countless exhibits of pictures, maps, press cuttings, and stuffed animals of a chilly disposition (musk ox, polar bears and the like).

You really have to admire the bravery (lunacy) of these hardy (crazy) explorers, who pursued their dreams of mapping the poles and beat the rest of the world to it (well, they beat Scott to the South Pole, but most Nations didn't have a suitable quota of eccentrics to outfit their own missions).

Opening - varies from 09:00 to 18:00, depending on Season. Open 7 days a week.


2. Kon-Tiki Museum - (literally opposite the Fram Museum).
'Hey chaps. I have a crazy idea. I believe that Polynesians sailed across the Pacific from Peru to their present location on giant rafts. Shall we replicate this journey to prove we were right?'
Thor Heyerdahl was a giant among explorers, and thus, by necessity, completely bonkers. His most famous journey in 1947, aboard the raft Kon-Tiki, with 5 others of questionable sanity ,took him across the Pacific using the Humboldt Current for 4300 miles. 101 days later, they landed in Polynesia. Point proved, clever chap! Eating passing fish and catching rainwater, the hardy (insane) explorers disproved the widely held and rather lazy theory that Polynesia (the Islands north of New Zealand in the middle of the Pacific) was populated from coast hugging craft leaving Asia. The resulting documentary of the journey won 2 Oscars, and ensured Thor's legend remains undimmed.

The raft itself is now in the Museum, along with other craft and exhibits from his other voyages and ramblings, including the Ra mission which crossed the Atlantic in a Papyrus boat in 1970, to show that Africans (probably Egyptians) could have reached the Caribbean this way.
There's also a walkway leading through the basement which houses all 10 metres of a Whale Shark, a replica of an Easter Island Cave, and other bits of exploratory magic.

Are we noticing a trend amongst Norwegians here? Perhaps it's the latent Viking in them that encourages ship based insanity.

Opening - varies from 09:00 to 18:00, depending on Season. Open 7 days a week.


3. Norwegian Maritime Museum. - (adjacent to the Fram Museum).
A thoroughly sensible museum, for a change, this museum is a cornucopia of miniature replicas of virtually every type of ship a Norwegian has ever sailed in. Coracle, Dinghy, Icebreaker, Schooner, Warship - they're all here in the kind of detail that will have every budding 12yr old Model builder drooling with excitement. Incidentally, here is where you will see Norway's oldest vessel, a Bronze Age boat from approximately 200BC.

Also inside are a collection of Maritime based paintings, a stunning widescreen (about 6 screens together) of Norway's entire coast in a 20 minute video, and a section on life along Coastal Norway that details its culture and history.

For the nerds out there - there's a clever computer screen that lets you see all the shipping passing through Oslo Fjord (Cruise ships, Ferries, Fishing Vessels, Pleasure Boats, Smugglers...etc) on a shiny radar.

Opening - 10:30-16:00 from Sept-May, and 10:00-18:00 in the Summer.

4. Viking Ships Museum (short Bus #30 ride into the interior of Bygdoy).
The smallest but most awe inspiring museum of the lot. This is basically a cruciform, one storey structure that displays 3 Viking Longboats found in burial mounds across Coastal Norway.
The Oseborg Ship, dating from 800AD, and discovered in 1904 is the best preserved, and contained skeletons and articles of clothing and tools when found. The detailing of carving on the prow is amazing, and the size of the boat, 22m long, 5m broad, and seating about 30 rowers indicates the craftsmanship of these seafarers.

The Gokstad ship, excavated in 1880, is slightly larger, and sturdy enough for a replica to have crossed the Atlantic in 1893.

The Tune ship, little more than half a hull, was dug up in 1867, but again was likely to have been 20m or so long, and primarily used for intra-coastal and small island hops.

Also in the museum are other items found at the burial sites belonging to peoples of the time. The eerie stillness of the building, devoid of aught but the Boats, non-harmful lighting (the wood would decay in strong light), and the hushed whispers of visitors, lend the building an almost reverential air, as if homage is being paid to the cultural magnificence of the Viking forebears.

Opening - 10:30-16:00 from Sept-May, and 10:00-18:00 in the Summer.

5. Norwegian Museum of Cultural History - (Bus 30 again, further back towards Oslo Centre).
The largest of the museums on Bydgoy, which it achieves by cheating and using the outside, this is actually a collection of buildings that show the history and culture of Norway from around 1500 to the present day.
Once you've torn yourself away from the delights of the Café, Toy Exhibits, Sami Exhibits (they live in Lappland and herd reindeer in brightly coloured clothes), and the indoor artifacts, you are encouraged to walk the scenic gravel trails that lead around the 155 faithful reproductions and original buildings. The oldest and easily the spiffiest is the enormous Stave Church, built entirely of wooden staves in about 1200AD, and festooned in intricate carvings.
There is also a reproduction of the town of Christiana, the part of Oslo rebuilt (moved also), after the 1624 fire, filled with cobbled streets and half timbered buildings.
Finally, you'll come across the Farm area of the Museum, which shows you different buildings from farming scenes all over Norway across the ages. There's even a few horses and cows grazing to add to the bucolic image of contented rural industry.

Also here at the Cultural History Museum, if you're now bored of splendid preserved buildings, Viking Ships and wacky Explorers, you'll find the Pharmacy Museum which has its own Herbal Garden chock full of plants used over the Centuries for medicinal purposes.

Opening - varies from 10:00 to 18:00. Open 7 days a week.

I would challenge anyone to visit all 5 of these Museums and not find at least two that didn't catch their attention. You could quite easily pass an entire day on Bygdoy, and the handy proximity of all the museums - no more than 10mins walk from the 3 museums by the Pier to the Viking Ships Museum, and another on 10 to the Cultural History Museum, means that you can pick and choose which to visit based on preference, queue size and weather.

My most important tip is to use the Oslo Pass, as you'd probably use most of the value of a 3 day card just visiting these museums alone, and not to worry about all the tall and beautiful Nordic types around - as they all speak perfect English and every exhibit and sign you'll see will be at least bilingual. (They sometimes add German just to show off also).

A rewarding time to be had on Bygdoy then, full of cultural edification, amazing stories of derring-do, exemplary facilities and brilliant exhibits. A trip to Oslo would not be complete without it!

Summary: Cultural Edification of the highest order.