Museum Archives

Roald Amundsen’s birthplace

Roald Amundsen was born in Fredrikstad. Young Roald got a taste for adventure here, the proud sailing ships of the family shipping firm were berthed on the Glomma below his farm. He left his home "Tomta" in Fredrikstad at an early age, but always returned during holidays.

The farm is now a museum. The old “captain’s house” is one of the best preserved in the country, and contains furniture from the period and souvenirs from Amundsen’s expeditions. Our guides are ready to take you on a tour of Amundsen’s dramatic life.

His biographers claims that his interest in research and seamanship was developed here by the river Glomma. His father and uncles run a large shipping business with 17 ships, and young Roald spent all his summers here until he was fourteen.

Isegran

The small green island of Isegran is located in the middle of the Glomma River and right in the heart of Fredrikstad. It is the perfect place for food, culture and recreation.

Isegran has a vibrant maritime environment and is home to a well-known maritime centre for the construction and restoration of wooden boats. The island is also home to Norway’s only traditional boatbuilding school and a unique museum harbour filled with historic vessels. Østfold’s oldest wooden building stands here, surrounded by a beautiful Renaissance garden. Isegran can be reached via the Kråkerøy Bridge or by the city ferry.

Today, Isegran is a lively coastal culture park and a centre for sharing traditions, history and experiences. Boats are restored in the same buildings where they were once built, and the island’s unique history lives on in a green oasis between the city and the river. Isegran also serves as a museum harbour, where traditional boats line the docks, most of them privately owned.

Isegranhuset, also known as “The Yellow House” and “The Empire House”, was built in 1730 on the site of the old guardhouse on Isegran. It is considered the oldest standing wooden building in Østfold. The Renaissance garden outside Isegranhuset began restoration in 1985 and is maintained each year through impressive volunteer efforts. Visitors can enjoy views towards Cicignon and listen to the gentle sound of the waterwheel in the Glomma River.

The Renaissance garden contains historically accurate perennials, herbs and medicinal plants based on well-known records from the 18th century.

Isegran is the first place in Fredrikstad mentioned in historical records. At the end of the 13th century, the Earl of Borgarsyssel, Alv Erlingsson, also known as Mindre Alv, had a small fortress on the island. In the 1670s, Isegran was fortified with a large artillery platform and the Isegran Tower. Later, a small fort was added to protect the river passage. Until 1680, Isegran was Norway’s only naval harbour.

During the Great Northern War, the island served as a naval base for Peter Wessel Tordenskiold. At the end of the 19th century, Isegran became the main base for the mine defence of Svinesund and the mouth of the Glomma River.

Isegran is also home to The Cathedral of Hope, an open and inclusive art and environmental project focused on building hope through cooperation. Open to everyone, the cathedral is a meeting place for people of all ages, nationalities and beliefs.

Most of the buildings on Isegran are owned by Fredrikstad Municipality. Several of them are available to rent for conferences and private events.

Kongsten fortress

Kongsten Fort is situated 500 metres east of The Old Town. It was built around 1680 on the rocky outcrop of Galgeberget. The fortress was constructed according to the ancient Italian principles of fortification, with high bastions, hornworks, and redans that would provide protection from invading armies. Military strategists understood that, if captured, the small hill would provide an enemy with a raised platform for their artillery, greatly increasing the range of canon shot.

Elingaard Herregård (Manor)

Elingaard has preserved all the elements that a manor house should have. In addition to the main house and other farm buildings, the site offers a garden with bastions, moats and carp ponds. A nature and cultural trail runs through inland, outland and forest, and along the route two of the farm's homesteads, mill pond, other ponds, burial grounds from the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Viking Age, cave road, rock carvings, bathing beach, bathhouse and other delights can be viewed.

The property has been a center of power since the beginning of the Middle Ages and archaeological excavations indicate activity back to the Viking Age. The manor you can visit today was built in 1749. The unique cellar dates back another hundred years.

The manor house has an exciting history of big politics and women's history. It is also not free for there to be ghosts at the manor house, which both guests, permanent residents and servants have experienced.

Elingaard Herregård is owned and managed by Østfoldmuseene – Fredrikstad Museum.

Hvaler Coastal Museum

The Hvaler coastal museum is cozy and beautiful at Nordgården Dypedal on Spjærøy. Along the coast, you could rarely survive on the sea or the soil alone. The combination of agriculture and fishing, pilotage, shipping and other industries linked to the sea was a dominant feature of the coastal culture. At the end of the 19th century, the stone industry provided a new basis for commercial activities. Nordgården is a typical combination farm for Hvaler. Until the end of the 19th century, both agriculture, shipping and fishing were carried out, later a stonecutter business was established here.

The museum conveys the story of the island population's conditions and everyday life in the 18th and 20th centuries. The exhibition "Welcome on board!" is also shown here. This is an exhibition about sailors from Hvaler told by the sailors themselves. Several of them sail to this day and contribute to Hvaler still being a vibrant maritime community. In the exhibition, strong experiences from both the 1st and 2nd World Wars, but also from the Gulf War in the 1980s, are shared.

At the Coastal Museum you can enjoy life at a leisurely pace. Here you can relax under the fruit trees with an apple cake and a cup of coffee. Or maybe you want to take the trip down to Skjeldsbosundet just below Nordgården. Here you will find the exhibition "Hewn in granite" at a protected quarry with associated work barracks.

In the café, coffee, ice cream, cakes and muffins are served, which can be enjoyed under the fruit trees, while the children run freely in the scenic garden. The museum is a magical place for children where they can frolic in play and exciting discoveries.

Welcome to a unique piece of coastal culture!

Out of season open by appointment. Separate prices for groups, contact the museum.

Fredrikstad Museum

Østfoldmuseene – Fredrikstad Museum is located in the Tøihuset in the Old Town, with entrance from Tøihusgaten. Here you will find 3 different exibitions and a small charming museum store.

As you enter the museum, you will find the latest exibition called Østfold in war 1939-45- Operation Polar Bear.

Norway was neutral when war broke out in Europe in September 1939, and Østfold became the first county to be affected when the German invasion forces arrived on the night of 8-9. April 1940. The attack came as a surprise to Norway, but women and men stood up to the occupiers with their lives at stake – also in Østfold. The exhibition shows their history.

Over 500 square metres, the story of some of the most dramatic moments that have taken place in Østfold and Norway – ever – is told.

See Norwegian and German weapons and uniforms, explore everyday life and resistance in Østfold, listen to radio broadcasts and study historical objects that have never been exhibited before.

Fredrikstad Museum has their own "History bar", called "Bar 1567". The "bartender" in Bar 1567 on the museum's ground floor serves you the history of Fredrikstad in a completely new and innovative way.

In the exhibition, you meet women and men from high and low in society who have left their footprints in the city.

On the museum's 2nd floor you will find the Timeline. Here you get closer to the objects and can immerse yourself in the story and the people. In the Timeline you can learn about the city's history through a chronological exhibition that shows objects from the city's long history, bound together through texts about people who have lived here.

Hans Nielsen Hauge’s Memorial Museum

At Hans Nielsen Hauge's Minde there is both a museum and a visitor centre. Hans Nielsen Hauge Minde is a protected cultural monument that consists of two connected buildings. One building is from 1730/1740 where Hans Nielsen Hauge was born, and where he grew up with his nine siblings and parents. Right next to this, is a white house dated from approx. 1830 and which was originally an assembly hall. Today there is a small, modern visitor center here, with a shop, exhibition and writing room. Guided tours are held in the center and in the place of birth.

Who was Hans Nielsen Hauge?
Hans Nielsen Hauge was a Norwegian lay preacher and industrial entrepreneur. He founded the Christian movement known as the Haugians, also called Hauge's friends. Hans Nielsen Hauge has had a great impact on social development in Norway.

Hauge was a farm boy from Rolvsøy in Fredrikstad. When he was born, the farm the family owned was located in the municipality of Tune in Østfold. He grew up in a Christian home, as child number five in a group of ten siblings. When he was 25 years old, he had his great spiritual experience on the land right outside his childhood home. This experience was in many ways the starting point for his later life and work. The spiritual experience led Hauge to start asking critical social questions, and gathered several eager listeners when he organized revival meetings around Fredrikstad and the surrounding area. With more and more supporters, larger groups of friends formed, which eventually became what we know as the Haugianer movement. This had great significance for the development of Christianity in Norway in the 19th century, and challenged the view at the time that only priests could preach God's word. This meant that he was repeatedly imprisoned, which ultimately had a negative impact on his health. Despite this, during his life he wrote a total of 33 books and writings, in addition to many hundreds of letters.

Hauge not only gathered large crowds with his socially critical commitment. He was also an entrepreneur who started countless companies, and helped to create thousands of jobs around Norway on his many travels. He wandered tirelessly from town to town, often with the knitting in his hands, and took work around on nearby farms or started new businesses. He was concerned that the people should have better reading and writing skills, about equality between women and men, poor and rich, learned and unlearned.

After extensive travel throughout Norway and also in Denmark, Hauge spent his last years in Oslo. Here he married and settled down, after a longer stay in prison and after being persecuted by the authorities, who banned his books and fined him. A protracted court case over several years finally freed Hauge, and he eventually gained a more conciliatory relationship with priests and civil servants, and also compensation from the state for lost income and wealth.

Hauge died in 1824, aged 53, and was buried at Gamle Aker cemetery in Oslo.