Varanger Museum consists of three departments, located along the Varanger Fjord, in Vardø, South Varanger and Vadsø. The museum documents and presents the multicultural history of Norway’s North border area. Each department has its own specific area of responsibility: Vardø, Pomor history, South Varanger, borderland history and Vadsø the history of the Kvens.
Vadsø, Kirkenes and Vardø
Kiberg was a main centre of partisan activity during the Second World War.
As a result of the longstanding contact with Russia, and the close relations that developed between people across the border, the sense of a so-called Russian threat during the cold war was weak in the Vardø area.
Kiberg
Steilneset Memorial is part of the National Tourist Routes; the memorial commemorates the victims of the witchcraft processes in Finnmark in the 17th century, in which 91 persons were executed. The history is conveyed through excerpts from the original judicial protocols, and art and architecture on an international scale, the result of a unique collaboration between the artist Louise Bourgeouis and the architect Peter Zumthor.
Vardø
The Borderland Museum is located together with the Savio Museum, dedicated to the art of the Sami artist John Savio (1902-1938). The Borderland museum has a café and a museum store with a wide selection of literature on local history.
The Borderland Museums library is open by appointment for searches in the photo archive or for the study of local historical subjects
Kirkenes
At the Borderland Museum one can explore theme exhibitions connected to local history. We present the history of the settlement and development of the region, from its origin as a common territory between Russia, Finland and Norway, to a Norwegian border municipality with a complex culture.
The Museum’s war exhibition contains, among other things, the Russian fighter plane Ilyushin; and presents the war history of Kirkenes and the border regions.
Kirkenes
Vardø Museum was established as a museum of natural history in 1894, and is the oldest museum in Finnmark. The museum was founded to undertake research into the fisheries of the Barents Sea, and still contains a sizeable natural history collection from those first years. Today, the museum depicts the wide-ranging history of the city of Vardø: Vardø as the Pomor capital of Norway; Vardø as a border station to the east; Vardø as a fishing village; partisan activity during the Second World War; the witchcraft persecutions that took place in Finnmark; and the natural geology of the area.
Vardø
Ceavccageaðge/Mortensnes Cultural Heritage Area is one of the richest and most distinctive areas of ancient monuments in Scandinavia. Within a limited area central aspects of Sámi prehistory and history are visible as cultural remains in the landscape.
The site is particularly distinguished for the considerable length of time it has been inhabited and used, and the large number and variety of ancient monuments. There is a continuous line of settlement through 10.000 years
Nesseby
The main exhibition «the Coastal Sami» tells about the Coastal Sami history and prehistory around the Varangerfjord. The exhibition shows settlement structure, religion, fishing, hunting and crafts, and also some of the sensational Stone Age findings from the area.
Sound and light effects create an exciting atmosphere and involvement for those who visit the exhibition.
Nesseby
Oscar II chapel marks the border between Norway and Russia. In the far north-east of the country, where the Norwegian-Russian border meets the Arctic Sea, a little stone chapel with 70 seats marks the start of Norway.
The border between Russia and Norway was drawn in 1826, but it took the peoples of the two countries a long time to adapt to the new border.
Kirkenes
Andersgrotta was a shelter for Norway’s most heavily bombed city Kirkenes. During the Second World War, the air raid siren sounded in Kirkenes, Norway over 1000 times, and the town was bombed on 328 occasions.
To escape the death and destruction, the people of Kirkenes decided to construct a bomb shelter with enough room for 2500 people.
Kirkenes
Makkaur Light Station is situated at the very northeastern end of the fjord Båtsfjord, facing the Barents Sea, and has been in use since 1928 signaling the coastal shipping lane.
The lighthouse stands on a bluff in the rugged, rocky terrain away from the other station buildings, and it is a white rectangular concrete building with an arched roof.
Båtsfjord
The Giant Breakwaters
Ceavccageaðge/Mortensnes Cultural Heritage Area is one of the richest and most distinctive areas of ancient monuments in Scandinavia. Within a limited area central aspects of Sámi prehistory and history are visible as cultural remains in the landscape.
The site is particularly distinguished for the considerable length of time it has been inhabited and used, and the large number and variety of ancient monuments. There is a continuous line of settlement through 10.000 years
Berlevåg
Hamningberg is situated on the far northern side of the peninsula between the fjord Syltefjord and Vardø. The village sits on the south facing gently sloping land between the beach and the low mountain Harbakken that shelters it from harsh northern winds.
There are findings confirming that there has been a year round settlement here since the 16th century, and exceptionally Hamningberg did not suffer the scorched earth treatment when the occupying forces retreated from Finnmark in the autumn of 1944.
Båtsfjord (Road access from Vardø)
The Kjølnes Lighthouse is located near the seaward entrance to Berlevåg, and is easily visible from a great distance, both from the sea and land.
The station is situated on a spit in a barren and magnificent landscape. The tall white painted lighthouse tower is easily visible from the fishing village Berlevå
Berlevåg
The hamlet of Veines is situated in Kongsfjord in the municipality of Berlevåg, 30 km from the fishing village of Berlevåg itself, on the furthest point of the Varanger peninsula in Finnmark.
Veines was the westernmost building development to escape being burnt down by the Germans during the Second World War, so there are houses dating from the end of the nineteenth and well into the twentieth century.
Berlevåg
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ENQUIRY FOR ADVENTURES
VISIT VARANGER
Greater Arctic Norway AS
visitvaranger (a) gmail.com
+ 47 938 24 248
Vadsø, Arctic Norway
VADSØ , VARANGER ARCTIC NORWAY
BOOK A NIGHT OR TWO IN THE ICEHOUSE
Probably one of the coolest accommodation in Varanger