Lecture tour in Ofoten
Published 12 October 2026
The museums and libraries in Ballangen, Kjøpsvik and Narvik invite you to a lecture tour with Arne Håkon Thomassen from the Sami Parliament!
24 June 2026
Official opening of SKREI
The date has been set, the official opening of SKREI will be on Saturday 19 September. SKREI opens its doors to the public as early as 30 June at 10.00, without any major celebrations. But the opening of the new museum is the result of an extensive process where many people have contributed along the way, and must of course be properly celebrated.
– When the summer holiday is over and we are well into operation, we are very much looking forward to celebrating SKREI together with locals from all over Lofoten, visitors from near and far, and all those who have been involved in realizing the project, says Svein Ingvoll Pedersen, department director for Museum Nord in Vågan.
Preparations are well underway
– We are planning a whole week of events and cultural programming, in history, art, marine biology and recent research. The opening week ends with a large family event on Saturday 19 September, with free admission to all four arenas of SKREI. Then the Minister of Culture will come to cut the ribbon during the official opening ceremony, in addition there will be activities and experiences throughout the day, says Barbra E. Grøgaard, communications and marketing manager for SKREI.
– Those who have participated in the Coastal Day celebrations with us know the format, but this will be even bigger. We hope that it can be a real public feast and that locals and all those who have been involved in the realization of SKREI will come and celebrate with us.
In the evening, there will also be a closed event for sponsors, professional contributors, museum colleagues and close partners.
NOK 200,000 for research dissemination
In connection with the preparations for the official opening, Museum Nord was recently informed that we have received 200,000 in support to arrange a research square at SKREI.
– We submitted an application for event support and received the full amount. In the slightly longer term, it is a goal for Museum Nord to establish SKREI as an arena for research dissemination. It is very nice to be able to start this work in collaboration with the Research Days and see that we are on the list of organizers together with the country’s largest educational institutions, says Grøgaard.
Museum Nord has already sent out an invitation to all the schools in Vågan, Vestvågøy, Hadsel and Sortland.
– In addition to the dissemination program, we are also very happy that we can offer transport support, so that more schools can have the opportunity to visit us. The Research Square will also be open to the public one afternoon. Through a number of dissemination booths, Museum Nord plans to highlight themes from SKREI’s new main exhibition and adapt the content for slightly younger children than what the exhibition itself is designed for. The development of dissemination content takes place in close collaboration with several researchers, including from the Institute of Marine Research.
– We are in the middle of the last sprint before opening and are of course very excited about that. But we also lift our gaze and look forward, and hope that as many people as possible will join us in celebrating SKREI with us in September, says Pedersen.