Grenselandmuseet

Border country museum covering iron mines, WWII, and Sami culture

Address Førstevannslia, Kirkenes
Phone +47 78 99 48 80
Website www.varangermuseum.no

The Border Country Museum tells the story of Sør-Varanger: the iron mines that built Kirkenes, the brutal Second World War (the town was flattened by Luftwaffe bombings and Red Army liberation), and the Sami culture of the surrounding tundra.

The WWII section is the strongest — detailed accounts of the bombing campaign, the occupation, and the Red Army liberation of October 1944, supported by good photographic archives. The mining history section covers the Sydvaranger operation from its founding in 1906 to the modern era, with ore samples, equipment, and photographs. The permanent John Savio collection is in a room of its own: woodcuts and prints that are the finest thing in the museum by some distance. The Andersgrotta bunker tour, run by the same institution, is sold as a combined ticket.

things to do museum
A story
When the Red Army crossed the border and liberated Kirkenes in October 1944, they found almost nothing left — the German garrison had burned and demolished the town before retreating. The liberation was genuine, but the Soviet soldiers arrived to free a heap of rubble. The museum documents both the destruction and the chaotic weeks that followed, when Norwegian civilians sheltered by Russians in a bombed-out town on the edge of the Arctic winter.

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