The outdoor museum The Heiberg Collection at Kaupanger is a beautiful oasis where you are brought back in time, to different eras where you can see and experience what life in the Sognefjord area was like before.

It is a great experience to walk around the outdoor museum and look at the old buildings and the animals and enjoy the silence and the beautiful view towards the Sognefjord and the mountains in the distance. Here you can get the feeling of what life was like in the old days.

Season and Safety

Many of the activities and attractions mentioned on this website are open only in summer and are closed in winter. This also applies to many of the roads and accommodations mentioned. Season and opening time will vary. It depends on where it is and what activity, attraction, road and accommodation it is, it usually opens in the summer and closes in the autumn, depending on i.a. the amount of snow and the risk of avalanches in the area. Hikes mentioned in this website have different seasons. See links to the various hikes to read more about the hikes and season.

Important information about roads in Western Norway: Many roads in western Norway are prone to landslides and avalanches, especially in rainy and snowy weather. Winter tires are required in winter. Read more about Tyre Requirements in Norway...

It is important to take precautions for weather and driving conditions, on roads and trails, both when driving and in general when one is out in nature in Norway and Western Norway. It is recommended to use guide on the tours described on this website. Use the information you find on this website at your own risk and responsibility. Read more about season, important safety information and your own responsibility…

Visit Sognefjord

Visit Sognefjord is the official destination company for the Sognefjord area.

The Heiberg Collection at Kaupanger

Sogn Outdoor Museum (The Heiberg Collection) was established as early as in 1909 on parts of landowner Gert Falch Heiberg’s property in Amla at Kaupanger. Heiberg had collected more than 3,000 objects from Sogn in addition to a house, and in 1909 he donated the collection to Historielaget i Sogn, which then established the Sogn Outdoor Museum. The museum was Heiberg’s great passion, and he managed the museum until his death in 1949. By then he had more than 20,000 cataloged objects in the collection.

Below is a picture of a postcard that Heiberg sent to Mr state consultant Teig in Fana in which he thanked for the help in connection with him being able to buy a complete wooden shoe tool collection from Ole A Olsen Haugland in Os outside Bergen in 1910. This tool collection includes a home-forged ax that was used for chopping the wooden shoe blank. On the postcard, which also has a picture of the old Heibergske Museum in Amla, the following text is written:

Mr. State consultant Teig, Stend i Fane (Fana) pr Bergen.
From Ole A Olsen Haugland in Os, I received today complete wooden shoe tools for a very moderate payment. I take the liberty of sending you my most obliging thanks for your kindness in obtaining this for me. May I never abuse your goodwill.

With respectful regards, Yours truly, G.F. Heiberg
Amble 17/11/1910

FJORDS NORWAY - Postcard from G. F. Heiberg to Herr state consultant Teig, Stend i Fane (Fana) pr Bergen — Postcard from G. F. Heiberg to Herr state consultant Teig, Stend i Fane (Fana) pr Bergen

In 1980, the museum was moved to a new building in Kaupangerskogen between Kaupanger and Sogndal. It includes a large indoor museum in addition to an outdoor museum with buildings from different eras, from the Middle Ages right up to modern times when the museum was moved.

FJORDS NORWAY - A cuddly pig pokes its snout out between the fence posts. — A cuddly pig pokes its snout out between the fence posts.

At the outdoor museum there is a museum farm with cows, sheep, pigs and chickens. The animals roam freely in fenced areas. The rooster and the hens enjoy themselves indoors, you can go into the old barn to see (and hear) them. The outdoor museum consists of around 40 historical buildings surrounded by a well-maintained cultural landscape and beautiful nature where you can stroll around and see and experience and get the feeling of what life in the areas around the Sognefjord used to be like.

There are beautiful walkways and paths between the old houses and farmyards. There is also both an outdoor and an indoor playground where children can play with old toys, among other things.

FJORDS NORWAY - Dentist's office from the old days...shudder and horror! — Dentist’s office from the old days…shudder and horror!

The indoor museum has exhibitions on three floors with different themes. There is an exhibition of folk costumes, there is a collection of antiques from Sogn, a silver buckle with a chain that belonged to Gjest Baardsen, and there is a collection of tools and equipment from traditional farming in Sogn. There is an exhibition of toys from when great-grandmother was little, and an old dentist’s office, and you can see what a country store (a small shop on the countryside) looked like in the old days.

The museum has a museum shop in addition to Café Heiberg where you can buy coffee and where there is simple food serving. The indoor exhibitions are open almost all year round. The outdoor museum is open in the summer, see the museum’s website for more information about the museum and the opening times.

Kaupanger Stave Church at Kaupanger by the Sognefjord

Kaupanger Stave Church has been in continous use since it was built around year 1140 AD. It is one of the largest stave churches in Norway, and is built with wood from the forest around Kaupanger.

The church is situated on the hillside above the Kaupanger Bay by the Sognefjord, which originally is an old Viking trading town. The name Kaupanger origins from the two norse words “Kaup” (to buy) and “angr” (bay). Kaupanger Stave Church is open for visit during summer and is not part of The Heiberg Collection.

Sognefjord – What to See and Do

The Sognefjord, the king of the fjords, is the longest fjord adventure in Norway. The Sognefjord is 204 kilometers long and 1308 meters deep at its deepest. Join a guided glacier walk on the Nigardsbreen glacier, see the beautiful stave churches. Join a fjord safari or a fjord cruise on the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord. Experience the view from Stegastein viewpoint above the Aurlandsfjord. Take a short hike to Mt Molden in Luster and you will see the fantastic view down to the Lustrafjord. Balestrand is one of the first places the foreign tourists visited when they discovered Norway in the mid-19th century. The Fjærlandsfjord, Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord, the Årdalsfjord and the Lustrafjord are all branches of the Sognefjord. These side fjords are perhaps even more famous than the Sognefjord itself, which is located in the middle of western Norway. The Sognefjord is so long that it almost divides Norway in two.