MUSEUM NORTH - A unique selection of history and knowledge
Museum Nord is an umbrella organization for museums and historical information in the North of Norway, Lofoten, Vesterålen and Ofoten. There are museums and historical presentations in 8 municipalities Vågan, Hadsel, Sortland, Bø, Øksnes, Andøy, Narvik og Ballangen.
ANDØY MUSEUM
The museum is situated in Fyrvika cove, not far from Andenes Lighthouse. There is a spacious car park outside the museum. The building itself is also referred to as the Polar Museum (Polarmuseet). An exhibition from the polar regions is on show here, with emphasis on the life of hunter Hilmar 
Nøis, who spent 38 winters in Svalbard. The museum also has an exhibition that offers insight into the unique geology of the island of Andøya. The Ramså range includes the newest rocks on land in Norway, and inside the museum you can also see a cast of the locally found fossil of an Ichthyosaurus from the Jurassic period.
“Island Museum” (Øymuseet) is part of both the Polar Museum and Artscape Nordland. German artist Raffael Rheinsberg has used a garage to display objects found during his tours of Andøya, objects that people have thrown away, or that have been washed ashore on the island. “Island Museum” confirms that Rheinsberg has rightly been referred to as an “every day archaeologist”.
BALLANGEN MUSEUM
The museum is situated in Bjørkåsen, approx. 2.5 km from Ballangen centre. Turn off the E6 at the Statoil service station. The road is signposted.
Ballangen Museum presents the extensive mining activities that have been going on in the borough ever since the 1600's. The local mining and prospecting operations are documented with the help of exhibits and photos. 
The most comprehensive mining operations were carried out by Bjørkåsen Gruber AS (Ltd.) who began with test operations in 1911. The mining company was established in 1913 and was in operation until 1964. In its heyday the company employed approximately 300-350 workers. It was largely iron, pyrite and copper ore that were extracted from depths down about 420 metres below the mail gallery.
The museum also displays exhibits showing fishing, agriculture, housekeeping and school and cultural life.
BØ MUSEUM
Parkvoll, the former bailiff’s residence in Vinjesjøen, is today a museum. Out here on the coast, where the ghost of the sea keeps vigil and you can see the wood nymphs if you look closely, the narrative tradition still lives on. North Norway’s great fairy tale writer, Regine Normann, came from Bø, and a room at the museum has been dedicated to her inspiring life and authorship. In Bø, we celebrate her with the Reginedagan Festival towards the end of July.
In the fairy tale forest you can creep among the rocks and hear about the princess who delved into the heart of the earth, and many
other fairy tales by Regine Normann. The elf queen Borghild and all her elves live in the elves’ grotto, and here you can let yourself be
captivated by songs and stories from Iceland.
There are many exhibitions at the museum. You can visit a fisherman’s cabin (rorbu) from the fishing village of Nykvåg, for instance, and see how the fishermen lived. A Lofoten sea chest will also be there, ready for your inspection. In the boathouse there are some magnificent vessels, including the beautiful eight-oarer “Njal,” built in Tysfjord in 1874. There are new and exciting summer exhibitions every year.
A network of paths is found all round the museum grounds, making Parkvoll Estate the perfect spot for a pleasant stroll. From the sculpture entitled “The Man from the Sea” you can enjoy a view of the Lofoten Islands, Gaukværøy and the Iron Age burial site at Svinøya.
“The Man from the Sea” was created by the artist Kjell Erik Killi Olsen and is part of the Artscape Nordland project.
Today, the old bailiff’s office is a museum shop and café where you can buy books and old-fashioned sweets, or enjoy a cup of coffee.
LOFOTEN WAR MUSEUM
Welcome to Norway's largest exhibitions uniforms, artefacts and small objects from 2. world war.
THE LOFOTEN MUSEUM
At the Lofoten Museum you can explore authentic environments from the 1800s in a beautiful scenic setting. Storvågan was one of Lofoten’s biggest fishing villages in the 1800s, and the museum has been built up around the old residence of the owner.
The Lofoten Museum is situated one kilometre from Kabelvåg town centre – Take off from road E 10 to Storvågan. Exhibitions and other events open to the public
• The History of the Lofoten Fishery
• Collection of Nordland type boats
• Fisherman’s Cabins (rorbu) from the 1800s
• Old Boat Engines
• Residence of the owner of the fishing
village, with a variety of exhibitions
• An AV-show about lighthouses
• Harbour Construction in Lofoten
• Historical Gardens: Old Perennials
from Lofoten
• Country Shop/Souvenir Shop
• Culture Trail to Kabelvåg town centre,
on the site of the mediaeval city of Vågar
The museum is next-door neighbour to
Gallery Espolin, the Lofoten Aquarium and
Nyvågar Rorbu Hotel
LOFOTR VIKINGMUSEUM
The museum have several different reconstructed buildings: longhouse, smithy, "skjeltersjå" and boathouse. The original site after the longhouse is visible on the ground. The chieftain of Lofotr lived in a long-house with three naves, where poles
mounted in pairs bear the weight of the ceiling. Structures in the ground and the artefacts that have been found indicate that
a chieftain lived here. The farm was evidently different from surrounding farms
MUSEUM NORD NARVIK
The Museum Nord - Narvik is situated in the south of Narvik town centre, opposite the Swedish seamen’s church. Click for road map. It is located in the old NSB railway administration building that dates back to 1902, and displays exhibitions from the local cultural history.
Traditionally, the people of the Ofoten region made a living from a combination of fishing and agriculture. Modern times arrived with the building of the Ofotbanen railway towards the end of the 1800’s. In order to extract iron ore from the mines in the Kiruna area,
a railway leading to an ice-free port was necessary so that the ore could be shipped to Europe and other parts of the world.
The railway was completed in 1902, together with the new city of Narvik.
The Museum is set in beautiful natural surroundings and houses cultural-historical and theme exhibitions, an audio-visual show,
films, a basic café and a small museum shop. Free parking.
NORWEGIAN FISHING INDUSTRY MUSEUM
The Norwegian Fishing Industry Museum was established in 1991 as a national museum for the fishing industry in Norway.
The museum is located at the site of the abandoned Neptun herring oil factory at Melbu in Vesterålen. 
Production at the factory was discontinued in 1987. The museum is currently under construction, and via our homepage we will give updated information about the offers and developments at the museum. We welcome you all to visit our museum.
The Sea Eagle Centre in Norway opened its first exhibition at "Neptun" Tuesday 6 July 2010. Great sea egle pictures by photographer Kjartan Trana now characterise the exhibition space that the eagle centre has at the Norwegian Fishing Industry Museum in Melbu.
NORWEGIAN FISHING VILLAGE MUSEUM
The museum, was founded on July 3, 1987 by the Moskenes History and Museum Society in collaboration with the Moskenes municipal
council and Mr. Sigurd Harald Ellingsen of Å. It was officially opened in June 1988 - and has been receiving public grants since 1990.
Main Theme: Life in the fishing village and the Lofoten Fishery over the past 200 yearsComprehensive and exciting coastal museum.
Educational exhibitions, guided tours, demonstrations, activities and information on video.
SORTLAND MUSEUM
The museum has been recently established and has yet to acquire permanent premises. Temporary exhibitions will
therefore be on display at a variety of rented locations, and will be announced on the museum’s web site www.museumnord.
no/sortland and in the local media.
During the summer season Sortland Museum, in association with Sortland Municipal Council, will also present permanent exhibitions on the wharf at Jennestad Trading Post, approx. 8 km north of Sortland town centre (signpost on the main road). On the wharf there is a shop stocking original commodities from the period between1920 and 1982, together with the offices of the shipping agent’s, the postal service
and the graphite mine. There is also an exhibition about the history of the trading post. In the shop you can buy home craft items, local history books, postcards, etc.
MUSEUM NORD DIVTASVOUDNA/TYSFJORD
Tysfjord Museum spreads knowledge about human activity from the time when the first people came to Divtasvuodna/Tysfjord and up until today. A large majority of the borough’s population are Sámi, and it is therefore only natural that the museum should make an effort to reflect the area’s multi-cultural aspect. The museum consists of two separate facilities.
The museum facility in the municipal centre of Gásluokta/Kjøpsvik presents exhibitions spanning from the time of the fisherman-farmer to industrialisation and the effects industry had on the borough and its ethnic groups. In 1918, the Nordland Portland Cement Factory (now Norcem) was established there, changing the nature of the settlement completely. The story sounds as though it was taken directly from Knut Hamsun’s novels about Segelfoss, the farming community that grew into a small town.
Our other facility is in Hierenjárgga/Korsnes, near the ferry at Bognes. It consists of some older buildings from the 1700s-1900s and was formerly an important trading post in the area. It gradually became a hub of communications with postal and telegraphy services, and port of call for steamships and Hurtigrute vessels. Knut Hamsun worked there for a while, and it is said that he saved one of the local children
from drowning. The photographer Magdalene Normann was also from there, and we have many of her photographs. There is also a German military facility there from World War II. Not far from Hierenjárgga/Korsnes there is an 8-9000 year old rock carving range which is internationally considered worthy of preservation. There is a rudimentary café service at the museum and excellent beaches nearby.
THE VESTERÅLEN MUSEUM
The Vesterålen Museum is located in Melbo Mansion (Hovedgård), 500 m up from the ferry in Melbu town centre, and 16 km from Stokmarknes, which has an airport and is port of call for the Hurtigrute ships. The museum was established in 1924. With its magnificent park and surrounding gardens Melbo Mansion seems like a royal palace in a fairy tale setting. From this estate, industrial pioneer Christian 
Frederiksen ran his businesses, which at their most numbered 40 different industrial enterprises. The mansion manifests the key role played by the squires in the 1800s and 1900s, and has been restored and returned to its former glory around the turn of the last century.
Exhibitions and other offerings for the general public This is a substantial farming estate from the 1800s and 1900s, where visitors can see beautiful murals by Gunnar Berg, art nouveau and beautiful interior furnishings. The basic exhibition “On the Threshold of Our Time” tells us of social upheaval in Vesterålen at the turn of the last century. Guided tours of Melbo Mansion are recommended. There are art exhibitions
in the mansion and at Gallery Rødgården during the Summer Melbu Festival, in addition to other temporary exhibitions at other times of the year. The museum shop is stocked with a wealth of literature and also includes a web shop.
ØKSNES MUSEUM
The museum is situated in Alsvåg. Turn off branch road 821 just before Myre town centre. Follow signposts from the Alsvåg town centre.
Alsvåggården Farm - The Basic Exhibition Developments in the fishing village – a journey through time The Øksnes of today emerges as a hi-tech fishing village based on several thousand years of experience. Fishing has been going on in Øksnes since the Stone Age.
Archaeological finds confirm that people made use of seasonal fishing villages as early as the Stone Age. When the fishing was good, they went to their regular fishing stations. In this respect, we can refer to them as several thousand year old fishing villages. With the
help of archaeological finds and sites, together with written sources, we can follow developments in the fishing villages from the Stone Age to the present day. All traces of people’s life and activities left in their surroundings are considered cultural monuments and cultural environments, whether they belong to the distant past or the more recent.
Coffee and waffles are on sale at the museum during the summer season. Weather permitting, food is prepared outdoors in a cooking hollow over an open fire. The facilities have been partly adapted for the disabled. Museum Exhibition in Nyksund The fishing village of Nyksund is situated on the northern point of the island of Langøya. Around 1900, Nyksund was one of the biggest fishing
villages in Vesterålen, but owing to poor harbour conditions and centralisation, it was completely depopulated in the 1970’s. Today,
there is renewed activity there, including artists, galleries, restaurants and overnight accommodations. Museum Nord has exhibition
rooms at its disposal in Nyksund, and the exhibition focuses on the history and growth of the fishing village, where the development of the
harbour and of fisheries technology play a central role. The automatic jigging machine was actually invented on these very same premises.
The premises are also used for small concerts and talks throughout the summer. Refreshments on sale.
