The new Hurtigruten Museum is our most relevant project. The museum opened on 28 August 2021.
Hadsel Municipality, Museum Nord and the Hurtigruten Museum Foundation have worked for a long time to establish the Hurtigruten Museum in a new building and in a new and even better format than the previous museum. The former museum is popular and prestigioorized. The goal is to get an even greater focus on good knowledge dissemination and great experiences for guests. The parties believe that there is considerable unused potential in both visitor numbers and dissemination opportunities in a new building. Hurtigruten’s creation and work for more than 120 years has been and is a very central part of Norwegian history. “The coast’s national road”, “a lifeblood along the coast”, “highway no. 1” are all concepts that clarify the importance of Hurtigruten.
The new building is spectacular. It is built in line with the museum’s need for good operation as well as creating good experiences and sharing knowledge with all visitors. The building is located at Stokmarknes, and the land-based hurtigruten ship MS Finnmarken is simply built into the building/museum. MS Finnmarken is the museum’s largest exhibition object and is a central part of the story of Hurtigruten’s over 120-year history. Extensive exhibitions are established, and parts of DS Finmarken from 1912 will also be part of the museum.
The establishment of the “new” Hurtigruten Museum has attracted great interest and strong involvement locally, regionally and nationally, both among politicians/decision-makers, “most people” and enthusiasts associated with Hurtigruten.
It is a demanding financial boost that must be taken to establish a new building and content, as well as preserve the existing values possessed by the museum/foundation. The building is financed in a collaboration between Hadsel municipality, Nordland county municipality and the Ministry of Culture (The State). The building is owned by Hadsel municipality and operated by Museum Nord.
The new museum opened on 28 August 2021.
