Located on top of the Bragernes hill in Drammen, the Open Air Museum (Friluftsmuseum) is a collection of 25 traditional Norwegian houses from all over the Buskerud region. It is part of the Drammen Museum for Art and Cultural History, County Museum and Gallery for the region of Buskerud (Drammens Museum for kunst og kulturhistorie, fylkesmuseum og galleri for Buskerud) Foundation along with the Drammen Museum in Marienlyst, the Drammen Art Society, the Foundation Gulskogen Farm, the Thaulow collection of art and curiosities from Modum Bad, and the Austad Farm.
It was a cold winter day in February when my bf and I first visited the open air museum. The city was covered in ice and snow, making it a bit challenging for me to climb up the hill. Bragernesåsen (Bragernes hill) is also where Spiralen, a spiral-shaped tunnel carved out of the mountain in 1953, is located. On top is a cozy restaurant with a breath-taking view of Drammen and its river and many trails going through Drammensmarka, and also, the interesting museum.
The Friluftsmuseum started in 1914 when the museum took over a timber house from Hallingdal. They wanted to build an open air museum which showcases the traditional farm life of Norwegians in the region before industrialization began. From 1917 until WWII, the museum had been buying traditional houses, until it managed to acquire 20 houses to be placed in Kobbervikkskogen in Tangen. However, it had been difficult for the museum to operate in Tangen, and so, they decided to move the houses to its current location now — on top of the Bragernes hill. From 1987 to 2000, 21 traditional timber houses were moved to Bragernesåsen.
The houses were built as early as the 1600s. For more information about the specific buildings, visit: http://drammens.museum.no/arkitektur/friluftsmuseet. The page is in Norwegian. Winter is probably not the best time to visit the Friluftsmuseum because you can only experience them from outside. Nevertheless, I totally enjoyed playing in the snow, and my bf and I lit a little bonfire and grilled sausages and marshmallows and that’s just perfect!
Grilling and making a small bofire in nature is fun! Luckily, my Swedish bf knows a lot about surviving in the woods, so I get to experience nature at its finest. As of January 2016, making grilling fires in Norway is prohibited from April 15 to September 15, by the way! I’m looking forward to grilling in the snow again! 😛
This is all for now! The Open Air Museum is definitely worth a visit. It sits on a wonderful location, and visitors will surely learn more about the earlier lifestyle of the people from Buskerud. 😉 Until then! Cheers! ❤
PinayOdyssey 