TRONDELAG FOLK MUSEUM
Trondheim, Norway
Trondelag Folk Museum (Sverresborg Trøndelag Folkemuseum) is one of the largest open-air museums in Norway. Founded in 1909, it is dedicated to the history and everyday life of the Trøndelag region.
One of the museum’s most distinctive features is that many staff members wear historical costumes, demonstrate traditional crafts, and show visitors what everyday life in Norway looked like in past centuries.
On the museum grounds, there is a school where children study and spend time during their holidays. What makes it unique is that the teachers, staff, and children wear traditional historical clothing and live and learn in authentic historic buildings where the daily life of Norway in the 17th–19th centuries has been carefully preserved or recreated.
Some of the museum’s educational programs allow children to literally “travel back in time” for several days and experience life as their peers would have in the 19th century. They write with quill pens, perform household tasks, use historical tools and objects, and learn without modern technology.
Without electricity or internet, children play and socialize between lessons in the field beside the old schoolhouse. I think this is a wonderful way to develop imagination, adaptability, and an appreciation for the conveniences of modern civilization.
This makes the museum not only a place where history is preserved, but also a place where it can be experienced and felt firsthand.
The museum grounds contain more than 80 historic buildings relocated from different parts of Central Norway. Among them are farmsteads, townhouses, workshops, shops, a church, and even entire historic streets.
