The Fram Polar Ship Museum in the Nordic Country

Travel to Oslo for Bygdøy’s highest rated museum. Bygdøy is situated close to Oslo and is popularly known as the ‘museum peninsula’. Come and see the ships Fram, Gjøa, and visit exhibitions about polar history. Here you can find out about voyages and expeditions from the Nordic country. With great activities for kids to get involved in too, the Fram Polar Ship Museum is an ideal place to spend a day on your Oslo visit.

The Fram Polar Ship

The centrepiece of the Museum, this is the world’s strongest wooden ship. The ship had to be strong to withstand pressures of crushing Arctic ice. She was the first ship built in Norway especially for a polar research expedition. This was something that had never been achieved before. It remains the vessel which has sailed the furthest North and furthest South.

The First Fram expedition took its crew close to the North Pole. The Second Fram voyage traversed unchartered territory in Greenland. Here, the land was mapped and scientific results recorded on a huge scale. Biological samples were collected and data recorded about the climate and the earth’s magnetism. The Third Fram expedition carried the world’s first explorers to the South Pole.

Go on board to see where the crew survived in some of the harshest conditions on Earth. There is an exhibition on board packed with information detailing the ships’ various expeditions. You can even experience a polar simulator. This gives a sense of what it might have been like to face the cold and dangers of a polar expedition over 100 years ago.

Other main attractions

The ship Gjøa is housed in an extension to the Fram museum which was opened in 2013 and is another must-see when you visit Oslo. It was the first ship to successfully navigate the entire Northwest Passage. This is a perilous stretch of Ocean north of Canada, where the Pacific meets the Atlantic.

There are various other exhibitions in the Fram Polar Ship museum. These give stories of individual explorers, expeditions and sailing vessels. Discover the scientific and humanitarian reasons behind research expeditions from the Nordic country. There is also information on current issues surrounding the Arctic, such as melting ice and oil extraction.

Visit the Framheim Café for some welcome refreshment on your way round the museum. Try Norwegian waffles and imagine you are on board ship. The café cabins have ‘windows’ showing an LCD view of Northern Lights or actual recorded expedition footage.