The Perspektivet Museum occupies a handsome Empire-style merchant's house from 1838 in the city centre. Its focus is cultural history and documentary photography, with a particular interest in northern Norwegian life and the connections between the Arctic and the wider world.
The permanent collection includes material from the Tromsø City Museum and Troms Folkemuseum, along with the works of Cora Sandel — one of Norway's more under-read 20th-century novelists. The photography exhibitions are often the strongest programming, ranging from historical documentary work to contemporary Arctic-themed commissions. The museum also manages two outdoor collections of historic buildings at Folkeparken and Straumen, open seasonally.