Maihaugen Open-Air Museum

Maihaugen is one of the largest open-air museums in northern Europe, occupying a forested hillside above Lillehammer with over 200 historic buildings relocated from the Gudbrandsdal valley and surrounding region. The collection ranges from medieval farm buildings to a complete 19th-century town centre, workers' cottages from the early 20th century, and post-war family homes furnished exactly as they were in their own time.

The Garmo Stave Church, originally built in the 13th century in Garmo (now Lom), was dismantled and rebuilt at Maihaugen in 1921 and is the oldest and most photogenic structure on the site. Walking the full collection takes a comfortable half-day; guided tours run in summer and are worth taking for the living history demonstrations. Maihaugen also contains the Norwegian Olympic Museum, housed in a purpose-built facility within the grounds. The museum is open year-round, with shorter hours in winter.

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A story
Maihaugen was assembled by Anders Sandvig, a dentist who began collecting historical buildings in the 1880s as a way of preserving rural Norwegian culture he feared was disappearing. He travelled the Gudbrandsdal valley on his rounds, and in exchange for dental work he accepted old tools, furniture, and eventually entire buildings as payment. By 1904 he had accumulated enough that the town of Lillehammer took over the collection, and today it holds over 200 relocated buildings on a hillside above the lake. The 13th-century Garmo Stave Church, re-erected here from a nearby valley, is the centrepiece — one of the oldest wooden structures in Norway.

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