LECTURE: The Hurtigruten – from the post-war period to the present day

Welcome to an evening lecture at the museum!

Entrance adults: NOK 120

Serving.

Historian and long-time captain of the Hurtigruten service, Eivind Lande, will talk about the Hurtigruten from the post-war period until today, with a focus on seafarers, passengers and life on board.

The period after the war and up to the mid-1970s is often described as the Hurtigruten’s heyday. This was a period when many shipping companies collaborated on the coastal route called the Hurtigruten, and passenger numbers increased year by year. The ships were truly a lifeline along the coast, and the transition from steamships to diesel-powered engines lifted the Hurtigruten into a new era. At the same time, each ship constituted its own little world, with its daily rhythms and human lives. Crew, work, everyday life and parties.

From the mid-1970s, it went downhill. Competition from the short-haul network and road construction meant that the coastal route lost its unique position. Today, the two shipping companies that sail the coastal route between Bergen and Kirkenes operate under completely different conditions than the shipping companies did in the 1950s.

After the lecture, there will be an opportunity to go down and experience Belsen, the crew cabins on board MS Finnmarken (1956), fully restored in June 2025.

A little about the speaker:

Eivind Lande (born 1961) is a trained historian and navigator, with many years of experience as a tour guide, mate and captain of various coastal express ships  especially M/S Lofoten. He has also worked for many years with vessel protection and coastal culture at the Directorate for Cultural Heritage. Now he is employed as a maritime advisor and captain at Lindesnes Lighthouse Museum (M/S Gamle Oksøy). He has also been active in Børøysund for 40 years.