Dale

Hopland

The farmhouses at holding No. 15 at Hopland are built together to form a long, continuous building, with dwelling house, hayshed and cowshed built in one row. There have been many such joined structures in the coastal communities, but today there are few remaining. If we travel to the other side of the North Sea, to the Faeroes, Shetland and the Orkney Islands, we find corresponding features in the older building traditions. We find ourselves in a large North Atlantic cultural area.

Vikøy

Through Adolph Tidemand’s detailed close-ups of smokehouses in Kvam, the vicarage in Vikøy, where he lived during his painting trips through Hardanger, has obtained a central position in the Norwegian national romanticism.

Vangdal

At Salthamaren in Vangdalsberget it is thought that salt was burned some time in history, and deep layers of coal in the ground show that fire has been made up here several times. But they were hardly salt-burners, the first people who stopped here. Some of them carved figures into the rock. On top of the rocky outcrop, furthest out on the cliff, a group of Stone Age hunters carved animal figures. More than 1,500 years later Bronze Age farmers drew ship figures at the foot of the rock. Both these works of art - some of the oldest in Hordaland – are still visible, carved in the rock at Salthamaren.

Skipshelleren

For vel 7000 år sidan var Straume ein av dei beste – om ikkje den beste – veideplassen i Hordaland. Steinalderfolket som busette seg ved Skipshelleren, skjøna truleg ikkje kor heldige dei var. Mellom dei opptil 2 meter tjukke dyngjene med stein og bein som arkeologar grov fram i 1931–32, fann dei reiskapar og avfall frå fangst og matstell. Frå dette materialet har arkeologane stava seg fram til livet ved straumen.