Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology

Historie

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology or Norwegian Museum of Science, Technology, Industry and Medicine is a science museum located in Oslo, Norway. The museum is an Anchor point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage.HistoryThe museum as an institution was founded in 1914 as a part of the commemoration for the 100th anniversary of the Norwegian Constitution, but it was not until 1932 that the museum was first opened, in the basement of the Viking Ship Museum in Bygdøy. In 1959 the museum relocated to Etterstad, and in 1986 moved once again, to its current location, in Kjelsås, with a total of 20,000 m² floor space. In addition to its exhibitions, the museum has a library and historical archives, a café and a museum shop.CollectionsThe museum’s objective is to demonstrate the implications of progress in Science, Technology, Industry and Medicine, socially and culturally, through the ages. The museum is an educational institution with collections, exhibitions, publications and other activities, which makes it a place of learning for visitors of all ages.Through its collections and exhibits the museum chronicles the development of Norway from an agrarian society to a complex industrial society. The museum contains permanent exhibitions on transport and aviation, Norwegian industrial history, energy and electricity, music machines, the wood and metal industries, oil, gas and plastics, clocks and watches, calculating machines and computers, as well as a science centre. The most recent addition to the museum is the National Museum of Medicine, opened to the public in 2003. The galleries offer examples of how objects, through interpretation, can be used to provide an understanding of contemporary life.