The Fram Museum

Particularly focusing on three of the greatest explorers the world has ever seen: Otto Sverdrup, Roald Amundsen, and, above all, Fridtjof Nansen, the museum takes its name from its most important artefact whose value for the history of polar exploration cannot possibly be overstated: Fridtjof Nansen’s mighty ship the Fram.

In 1891, the Fram was built as the world’s strongest wooden ship that could withstand the wind, high seas, and ice of the polar regions. In 1893, Nansen used the ship for his first expedition to the North Pole, and it served on various other Arctic and Antarctic expeditions by other famous Norwegian explorers until 1912. In 1935, the ship was installed in the Fram museum that had been constructed specifically for this purpose, where it still remains today, and located close to the Kon-Tiki Museum as well as the Norwegian Maritime Museum.

Today, visitors may enter and explore the Fram to catch a glimpse of the circumstances under which these great explorers lived, often for several years, and what conditions they endured for the sake of discovery and scientific progress. Visitors can freely explore the ship’s interior, its saloon, and galley as well as the ship doctor’s equipment and the private cabin of Oscar Wisting, Nansen’s most trusted and valued expedition companion.

Get to know some of the greatest explorers in history

Since 2013, the museum even houses the Gjøa, the first ship to sail through the entire Northwest Passage between 1903 and 1906. In addition to these incredible survivors of the Norwegian polar expeditions, various permanent and temporary exhibits explore and explain the Age of Discovery in greater detail. These include even airplanes as well as the airship Norge, a biographical exhibit on Fridtjof Nansen and his many achievements in the field of scientific and humanitarian progress, and slides used by Amundsen himself in his lectures on the topic of polar expeditions.

The Fram Museum today stands an incredible and unmissable monument to some of the greatest and most fascinating names in the entire history of polar discovery and brings to life their dedication to scientific progress, global peace, and environmental preservation.