Perspektivet Museum is a public foundation for museum activity in the Troms region. The main museum is located in Mackgården, an old building from 1838. The beautiful outdoor areas Folkeparken and Straumen gård (farm) are also part of the museum. These areas include 23 historic buildings, most of them from the mid or early 19^th century. Among these buildings are Kvitnesgården and Stornaustet, where you can take a look inside or sometimes even join a guided tour.

 
Mackgården (Photo: Mari Hildung / Perspektivet)

There are several exhibitions in the museum, and you can obtain fascinating information about people’s lives in the north in earlier times. At Kvitnesgården you can watch “Klunkestua“, which is a reconstructed living room from an upper class home at the end of the 19^th century. In Stornaustet the exhibition “In Cod We Trust” shows the large Nordland boats “Merkur” and “Draugen”, and you get an impression of the importance of stockfish and clipfish to this area, and also the large contribution made by women. As explained on the museum’s website,

“towards the end of the 19th century, the cod fisheries in Lofoten had developed into the largest workplace in North Norway, with more than 30,000 ‘employees’. The seasonal fisheries emptied homes and villages of ablebodied men and left the women behind with a heavy burden of responsibility. The women baked, knit, sewed and made certain that the men did not lack for anything during the long Lofoten Fishery.” (www.perspektivet.no, 7. Jan 2010)

The exhibition "In Cod We Trust" in Folkeparken (Photo: Mari Hildung / Perspektivet)

New exhibitions are displayed regularly, so there will probably be other fascinating sights to visit at Perspektivet museum during the Tromsø Olympiad in 2014.

From 2003, Perspektivet museum also includes the collections from the closed Tromsø Folkmuseum and Tromsø City Museum.

You find the main parts of Perspektivet Museum in Storgata 5 in Tromsø, while the Folkeparken Open-Air Museum is located in Kvaløyveien 55 (bus route no. 34). Straumen gård can be visited at Straumsbukta on the island of Kvaløya, about 40 km from Tromsø city centre (bus no. 1 from Tromsø).

Further information on the Museum can be found at the museum website http://www.perspektivet.no/.

Sources:
The museum website, http://www.perspektivet.no/
Gursli-Berg and Ihlen (red.) “Alt du bør vite om Norge”, Aschehoug 2008