The Polar Museum occupies an 1837 blubber warehouse on the Tromsø waterfront — a fitting location for a collection documenting the Arctic hunting and exploration that defined the city's history. Tromsø was the main Norwegian base for the great age of Arctic hunting: seal, walrus, and polar bear were the trade, and the museum tells the story honestly, without sanitising what the hunting meant for the animal populations involved.
The exploration section covers the expeditions that passed through Tromsø: Nansen, Amundsen, and the dozens of lesser-known hunters and scientists who pushed into the ice. Original equipment, logbooks, and photographs make the collection vivid. The building itself is one of the oldest surviving structures on the Tromsø waterfront.