Øystese- Kvam rural museum

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.

Vika

Skogasel

Norheim

Norheim, “the farm by the narrow sound” is mentioned in a diploma from the Middle Ages and in an inheritance document. This is one of the large farms in Hardanger, of those that belonged to the powerful families; Sandven in Kvam, Torsnes in Jondal, Aga in Ullensvang and Spånheim in Ulvik.

Nedrevåge

Vågsbygdo was severely hit by landslides and rock falls in the decades around 1700, in addition, the rivers transported masses of loose sediment, both large stones and gravel. A lot of what slid down from the Vågsliene (slopes at Våg) collected in Neravåge. It was so bad that the damage “never again can be remedied or restored”, it was said in 1670.

Golta- Long house

In the years between the wars a major registration of houses and house costumes, house construction methods, fireplaces and forms of housing clusters was started in West Norway – an ambitious mapping of everything that came under the name “Registration of Culture and Geography in West Norway”. One of the places of which material was gathered in 1938 was an old multi-room house at Golta; new and interesting material for the researchers from the Historical Museum, but well known within the local building tradition through several generations.

Færavåg

The main house at Færavåg was built in 1599. History tells us that a German came to Færavåg and built the house. He divided the land between his two sons. They in turn divided it between their two sons, thus there were four equal holdings on the farm. And it is said that all households lived in the same house. They each stayed in their own corner around the fire in the middle of the floor.