Museumed Out?

Hi! I saw lot of museums while I was in Oslo. I got an Oslo Pass, which let me use all public transport (underground, tram, ferry and bus) for free, as well as free entry to most of the museums around the city. So I saw (in order):

7 July

MUNCH-MUSEET
(The Munch Museum)

Lots of self-portraits, and other paintings. I saw a woodcut of the man from "The Scream", and a pastel-on-paper version of "The Scream" as well.

NORGES HJEMMEFRONT MUSEUM
(Norwegian Resistance Museum)

I only had half an hour before closing to walk through this place, so I didn't quite get to see all of the displays. But it was a very interesting museum for its relatively small size (200m walk-through).

8 July

NORSK FOLKEMUSEUM
(Norwegian Folk Museum)

A mostly open-air museum with buildings from different regions of Norway, and a few people wandering around in traditional dress.

VIKINGSKIPSHUSET
(Viking Ship-House)

Three viking ships, in various stages of preservation, having been buried a long long time (about 1000+ years). One of them was the Oseberg Ship, found near Oseberg, buried in about AD 850. It has the curly bit at the front, and photos of it are on the covers of most books with the word "Viking" in the title.

NORSK SJØFARTSMUSEUM
(Norwegian Maritime Museum)

Lots of different boats and pieces of boats. :)

FRAMMUSEET
(Fram Museum)

This museum is home to the "Fram", used in three Norwegian polar expeditions. Two to the North Pole (Fritjof Nansen and Otto Svedrup), and then one to the Antarctic (Roald Amundsen, 1911).

KON-TIKI MUSEET
(Kon-Tiki Museum)

Here I saw lots of exhibits from Thor Heyerdahl's expeditions, including the original vessels Ra II and Kon-Tiki.

9 July

OSLO DOMKIRKE
(Oslo Cathedral)

A very nice cathedral in the centre of Oslo, on the main street, Karl Johans Gate. It has interesting scenes from the Old and New Testament around the curves of the ceiling.

NASJONALGALLERIET
(National Gallery)

Here I saw quite a few nice paintings and sculptures. I saw "Skrik" aka "The Scream" by Edvard Munch... one of several painted versions. One was stolen from the Munch-Museet a while back. This one was stolen and recovered in 1994.

KULTURHISTORISK MUSEUM
(University Of Oslo Museum Of Cultural Heritage)

This museum had several floors, but I only walked around the ground floor, with its Early History, Viking Age, and Medieval exhibits. All the descriptions were mainly in Norwegian, but there were a few brief English notes on most displays. Lots of old single-handed swords.

NATURHISTORISK MUSEUM
(University Of Oslo Museum Of Natural History)

I went to the Botanic Gardens, also part of this museum, on 7 July, but fell asleep on the grass in the nice warm sun, so slept past the 4pm closing time of the museums.

So on Saturday I went back, and saw the two museums that make up the Natural History museum - the Zoologisk Museum and the Geologisk Museum, which includes the Palaeontologisk Museum. The Zoology part was interesting, as upstairs the displays were arranged by geographic region - each window had a habitat display, like African savannah, or Congo jungle, etc, with various stuffed animals that lived there. The Palaeontology was good, but part was closed for renovation. I took a picture of my head in the jaws of a T-Rex skull. As you do.