Welcome to the centennial celebration!
Sunnfjord Museum is celebrating 100 years of cultural history curation and engagement. This work is deeply rooted. There are many stories to tell.
Sunnfjord Museum was founded in 1926 to present the cultural history of the Sunnfjord region, which includes the municipalities of Askvoll, Bremanger, Fjaler, Hyllestad, Kinn (Flora) and Sunnfjord. The museum began as a small living history exhibit called Sunnfjordtunet (the Sunnfjord farm) along the Jølstra River in downtown Førde. Sunnfjordtunet was comprised of three buildings: the Østenstad cabin and the storehouses from Myklebust and Rørvik. These are still among the first buildings you meet when you enter the museum grounds. Around 500 artefacts were collected. A museum for the Sunnfjord region was born.
In 1951, Sunnfjord Museum moved to its present location at Movika. Movika was a tenant farm, and the buildings from that farm are preserved here still. More buildings were moved here to present a klyngetun, a traditional communal farm where several families lived together. A schoolhouse was added, and in 2004 a traditional mountain farm was constructed. This year we are opening a country store and a shoemaker’s workshop, as part of the centennial celebration.
In its first few decades, the museum was run by volunteers from the local history society Sunnfjord Sogelag. In the 1970s and 1980s, the museum hired a director and a carpenter. Conservator and educator positions were added in the 1990s and 2000s. In 2009, Sunnfjord Museum became part of the Museums of Sogn og Fjordane – a consortium of thirteen museums which preserve and present the cultural heritage and art of the former province of Sogn og Fjordane.
Today, Sunnfjord Museum has seven core staff members who preserve historic buildings, create new exhibits, conduct research and design visitor experiences. Our aim is to develop the museum in such a way that we continue to be a relevant cultural institution which contributes to community building and belonging.