The Historical Museum is part of the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Norway, in addition to the Museum of the Viking Age. We conduct research at a high international level and are Norway's leading research museum in the field of cultural history. We house Norway’s largest collection of ethnographic and historical artefacts, from the Stone Age up to modern times. Our exhibitions are made in collaboration with researchers and experts from the University of Oslo and renowned designers. Several of these are available for loan.
Contact
The exhibitions are available to institutions with satisfactory exhibition areas. For more information about opportunities, loan terms and cooperation, please contact Project Manager Knut Listerud at the Museum of Cultural History.
Exhibitions available for loan
Emotions in Antiquity and Ancient Egypt
Get close up to emotions that are thousands of years old. This exhibition focuses on emotions and bridges the gap between space and time by reminding us that strong emotions and experiences are something that is common to all people of all eras.
During history, members of different societies have shared emotions that have caused revolutions, and collective emotions have led to many wars. Politics can be emotional, and emotions can be manipulated. The museum uses artifacts from the museum's Collection of Classical Antiquities and the Egypt Collection to encourage and actively participate in the public debate on the importance of emotions in a historical perspective.
Each one of the objects tell their own story related to emotions of the time. Collectively, however, they reveal the similar emotions that have been expressed at different times and in different places: love and joy, grief and loss, hope, fear and awe.
The exhibition, designed by the internationally award-winning architectural firm Snøhetta, is built around a 15-metre table covered with artefacts from ancient Egypt, ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. Here you will find sarcophagi, statues, busts, reliefs, vases and other objects. The oldest artefact in the exhibition is an Egyptian wooden figure from about 2345 BC, while the newest is an Egyptian cat box from around 395 AD.
Sit down at the table, face to face with the objects, and meet them with all your senses. You can even touch some of the objects.
Fabulous animals – From the Iron Age to the Vikings
The Vikings and their ancestors looked upon animals with awe and admiration. Enter a world where the relationship with animals was completely different compared to today.
Imagine a world where the distinction between humans and animals was not as clear and sharp as it is now. A world where humans didn’t rule over all other creatures, and where people looked upon animals with awe and admiration.
The exhibition “Fabulous Animals” invites visitors on a magical journey back to Iron Age Scandinavia, a time when a different relationship with animals characterised people’s beliefs and notions and, not least, influenced the beautiful things they created, used and surrounded themselves with.
The journey begins in the 5th century, a time when Northern Europe was changing after the fall of the Roman Empire. Skilled jewellers from the Roman border towns wandered north and brought along their tools and knowledge of beautiful things. A Scandinavian style of its own called animal ornamentation arose in the chiefdom societies found in the north. This was a type of aesthetics that mirrored people’s beliefs and conceptual world.
This is a time before Christianity arrived in Scandinavia, when the Norse religion influenced people’s worldview; a time when animals were important, for gods and for humans.
Loan of objects from our collections
The Museum of Cultural History has Norway's largest archaeological and ethnographic collections – from the Stone Age, the Viking Age, the Middle Ages and up to recent times.