Traveling exhibition: My ship is loaded with…
Photo exhibition that gives an insight into everyday life and parties for a yachting family in the heyday of the 17th and 1800s.
12 May 2025
You can never be completely sure when you can actually call it spring in Northern Norway. There can always be a snow shower or two more all the way into June. But we rejoice in the small signs of change: now the geese have returned, the small birds are singing and it is slowly starting to turn green. Summer is on its way and we have begun the long-awaited gardening!
On Friday 9 May, a group from the museums in Vesterålen (Julie from Øksnes, Julie from Bø, and Ingeborg and Thea M.B. from GaiaVesterålen) gathered in the garden outside the historic Alsvåg manor for the first round of work.
Eager group in the garden. Photo: Museum Nord.
There were plenty of withered plants and weeds that we had to get rid of, and the winter storms had thrown huge branches around that also had to be removed. Garbage also had to be collected. At the same time, cleaners from Museum Nord worked to make the manor and exhibition building presentable for the summer.
Along the way, we came across a lot of interesting things. In one flower bed we found, among other things, a goose egg, and outside the fence we found an almost complete skeleton of an otter! As museum employees, we of course had to drop everything we had in our hands and start collecting bones.
This is also counted as gardening. Photo: Museum Nord.
Øksnes Museum and Sortland Museum sometimes arrange the activity “The Excavators”, where children get to dig for and learn about real animal bones. Thus, it is very exciting to have the opportunity to show them so many different bones from an otter.
Now that the summer season is approaching, we are entering a hectic period with a lot to do. At Øksnes Museum, we are working diligently to secure summer employment, plan and arrange exhibitions and events, and of course all the practicalities around the garden and buildings.
Fortunately, everything is easier and more fun when you do it with good colleagues!
The museum opens on 28 June with a lecture by Ingrid Elstad and the opening of the exhibition “My ship is loaded with…” which deals with treasures from the Bruun family.
Read more about this summer’s events here.
Read more about this summer’s exhibition: