Sites worth seeing Archives

Anno Kongsvinger museum

Our vision is "Knowledge of the past – involvement in the present". At Kongsvinger museum, we preserve knowledge of past practices through our collections. The collections are a starting point for understanding more of the past. Through history we also gain new insights and perspectives on our own time.

The museum has extended opening hours in the summer season and accepts groups on request all year round. School classes have free entry both within and outside normal opening hours.

Gyldenborg – Exhibitions, conference and administration
Gyldenborg is Kongsvinger Museum's headquarters with exhibitions, lecture hall, meeting room, museum shop and a small library with local history literature.

Kongsvinger Museum's exhibitions can be seen on the ground floor. In 2014 the exhibition "1814 – another story" opened and in 2021 it was replaced by the exhibition "HJEMLAND, Erik Werenskiold and Kongsvinger 1855-1905".

The department is the administrative center for the four museums in the Anno Kongsvinger region and the building also houses magazines, warehouses and workshops for the Anno Kongsvinger region. The Kulturkollektivet, Kongsvinger amateur theater and several other actors also have their offices on the top floor at Gyldenborg.

Gyldenborg was built by Forsvarsbygg in 2001, and the Anno museum moved into the building in 2013.

Aamodtgården – Get an insight into life as a civil servant
Aamodtgården at the foot of Kongsvinger fortress is one of the city's oldest signal buildings. Here you can get a tour of Nina and Harald Aamodt's apartment on the second floor. The apartment is a unique example of a civil servant's apartment furnished in the 1920s.

The garden is a paneled timber building in Empire style built in 1801. Originally it was known as Rynninggården, after Ole Roald Rynning who was the builder and first owner. The property got its current name after the Aamodt family who bought it in 1901. The property consists of the main building on two floors, a side building for servants, a farm building and the tent house from 1729, which originally belonged to Kongsvinger fortress. Kongsvinger museum opened here in 1985.

Aamodtgården is today home to Hos Marie, a pleasant cafe that offers delicious cakes and lunch dishes, and perhaps the city's best coffee. You will also find the Kongsvinger art association here, as well as that the Kongsvinger – Vinger history team has an office in the building.

Skinnarbøl school museum – See everyday school life 150 years ago
Skinnarbøl school is located just off the main road from Kongsvinger to Austmarka, along the roads towards Finnskogen and Sweden. The history teams in Kongsvinger are hosts at the museum during the summer, and they serve strong coffee and delicious waffles!

The old school at Skinnarbøl was built as one of the first permanent schools in Vinger municipality in 1862. When the entire Skinnarbøl school district was closed down and the children moved to Kongsvinger Sentralskole in 1964, no one had a use for the old school building anymore, and it was left to expire. The school had two classrooms, one for the high school and one for the junior school, and an apartment for the teacher with two rooms and a kitchen, all on the first floor. The loft is unfurnished. Almost no structural changes have been made since the house was built.

After a combined effort from history enthusiasts and Kongsvinger museum, the school museum was opened.

Please note that this product has yet to be professionally translated. Until then a machine translation has been provided.

Street Art – Jessheim

COLORING THE STREETS in Jessheim

In Jessheim there is a lot of exciting street art .

Jessheim celebrated its 10-year town anniversary in 2022 and in that connection a wall was painted with a Steinar Caspari motif designed by Egil Nyhus called Gjess.

In the park by Såvegen there is also an exciting piece of art painted on a small house.

On the back wall of Ullensaker Kulturhus there is also a wall with drawings inspired by motifs and people from Jessheim.

Martin Whatson has painted several walls around the Oslo region in correlation with a project called SPRAY. In Jessheim Whatson and Eric Ness Christiansen have done a huge piece together. To get to the art simply take the bus or train to Jessheim station. From there walk across the parking lot to Henrik Bulls vei. You can see Whatson's work finishing the piece on each sides of the road.
Check out the SPRAY video here

Martin Whatson (b.1984) is a Norwegian street artist best known for his calligraphic scribbles in grayscale voids. Over the past decade, Martin has developed an unmistakable aesthetic combining abstract movement with figurative stencilled compositions. His works can be seen to mirror the rise and fall of the streets, as he symbolically recreates the urban environment, then vandalises it to reveal his vibrant transformations. Read more about Whatson

Information from Visit Greater Oslo

The Riverside art park

The Riverside art park creates experiences and impressions along the Nitelva in Lillestrøm and the Sagelva in Sagdalen.

It is owned and operated by Lillestrøm municipality.

The art park has so far been financed by Lillestrøm Banken, Romerike Sparebank, Sparebankstiftelsen DNB, Lillestrøm municipality, and KORO. More information about the art park can be found on the website of Lillestrøm municipality.

More information about the art you will find here at this website

The memorial ground in Drøbak

The memorial ground in Drøbak Bathing Park is seen in interaction with the established bust of the commander at Oscarsborg fortress Oberst Birger Eriksen, who ordered fire on the German battleship Blücher in April 1940, as well as an anchor from the ship. The three elements represent dramatic and tragic events. The memorial with inscriptions of the local casualties associates a sheet in the wind.

Member of Visit Greater Oslo

Imprints – ceramic sculpture park

The sculpture park was designed by the Norwegian artist Magne Furuholmen and is the largest collection of ceramic works in Scandinavia today. Her Majesty the Queen officially opened the sculpture park when it was ready in June 2016.

There are 40 individual ceramic elements, all made of high-burnt faience. Two huge jars of 6 meters weighing 9 tons each form the entrance and end of the park. On the long sides there are 9 different columns of between 2 and 4 meters which are placed in two elongated water basins, where water and steam will create different atmospheric moods depending on the season.

"The goal was to create a park that could be experienced in different ways at different times, with water in the summer and steam in the winter as an atmospheric element, in addition to lighting"

Blaker Skanse

Activities

Blaker Skanse offers beautiful surroundings, both because of the park, the fortress and of course the old buildings. If you are interested in history, and you like a special atmosphere, Blaker Skanse i really worth a visit.

Blaker Skanse is one of Romerike’s best preserved and less known pearls. It is located on the top of the hill, viewing Glomma, the largest river of Norway, and with buildings from the middle of 1700.

Blaker Skanse was built in 1683 as a defence against attack from Sweden, and to prevent the enemies (Swedes) to cross the river. From 1917 till 2003 Skansen was a place for education of craftsmen, art teachers and designers.

Today, the old fortress is used for offices, cultural creativity, happenings, weddings, parties, exhibitions, meeting, courses and conferences.

Nes Church ruins

The first stone church in Nes was built on the headland between the Glomma and Vorma rivers in the twelfth century.

The ruins of the old Nes church can be visited any time anf guided tours for groups by prior arrangement April- October.

In pre-Christian times, there was a sacrificial site here. The church was built as a long church in Romanesque style in the 12th century. It was set on fire by the Swedes during the Seven Years' War in 1566, but was rebuilt and expanded into a cruciform church in 1697. In 1854, the church burned down again, but due to the danger of landslides, it was not rebuilt.

Some of the inventory from the old church was saved and is now located in the new Nes church from 1860. Magnificent views of the confluence of the rivers and the Nesbygda area.

Today the ruins host concerts and weddings at this magnificent location.

Nes, or Store Nes as it was called in ancient times, got its name from the promontory formed by the meeting of the Vorma and Glomma rivers. Nestangen is worth a visit in itself. Here you will find varied vegetation, beautiful cultural landscape, reminders of major landslides, and, not least, the church ruins, which the national antiquarian called the most beautiful ruin in Norway.

Around the church, there is a park where benches and tables have been set up for a pleasant rest. The old church cabin standing here was moved here from Fenstad north in the village and was the place where Norway's first coin engraver came from.

From E16, it is well marked with signs. Outside the winter season, you can drive all the way down to the ruins during the daytime, where a parking lot has also been constructed. On the way down, you pass Ullershov farm with proud traditions spanning many hundreds of years.

Important information for visitors to Nes church ruins
It is not allowed to drive by car or other vehicle down to Nes chruch ruins at night time!
Road barrier has been set up at the farm Ullershov, with information about opening hours. The barrier goes down at 11pm and does not open until 7am.
During the winter months, the road will be inaccessible to vehicles, due to ice or snow. All traffic will then be at your own risk.

Information from Visit Greater Oslo

Solbergtårnet

The Solberg Tower by Østfold's E6 is a landmark offering unexpected experiences. People have lived in and crossed this landscape for thousands of years. Norway's greatest concentration of rock art is here, and within a relatively small area are famous burial grounds and renowned fortresses, medieval churches and stately homes. The Solberg Tower stands as a fitting gateway to this proud heritage, and the visitor will leave here better informed, with a sense of wonder, and a wish to explore further.

The tower is open from 09AM-21PM from 1. April – 1. December. The rest area with toilets and the park is open 24 hours a day and all year round.

Fetsund Lenser

Fetsund Lenser – a national heritage monument, timberfloating museum and nature centre. A unique blend of cultural and natural adventures, set in beautiful scenery on the Glomma, at the gateway to Nordre Øyeren nature reserve, northern Europe's largest inland delta. Norway's only preserved timber-sorting facility, now a national heritage monument.

Museum
Timber-sorting facility on the water, 20 listed buildings, boats, workshops, exhibitions.

Visitor Centre Wetland, Northern Øyeren.A 300 m2 children-friendly centre with lot of interactivity, prize-winning architecture and exhibitions with focus on regional nature and wetlands. Nature trail, beautiful surroundings and a walk path following the river through the museum area Cafe and shops.

Member of Visit Greater Oslo

In my faith, in my hope, in my love

Three cast-iron heads are standing at the quayside in Fredrikstad. Their eyes are closed. The monumental size of the 4.5 metre sculptures contrasts with the peaceful, introverted expressions of the young women portrayed. The way in which the heads are stretched vertically gives them a floating, spiritual feel.

Plensas three heads are modelled from real people. The shape is processed digitally before it is produced in cast iron, conceived especially for this location.

The artist has long been inspired by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and it was a quote from Peer Gynt that inspired him to make the three-part artwork in Fredrikstad:

– When Peer returns from his journey, where he has failed as a human being in many ways, he asks his wife Solveig ‘Where was I as the one I should have been, whole and true?’ Solveig answers: ‘In my faith, in my hope, in my love’. With these words he is set free. It's a strong message, and I've wanted to make an artwork based on Solveig for quite some time. It was really fitting to do this as my first project in Norway.

– Although this is my motivation for the work, it's not necessary for the audience to know the story. Everyone is free to interpret it in his or her own way.

Skulpturstopp is a gift from Sparebankstiftelsen DNB to Norwegian municipalities.