This interesting museum provides a window into the world of Hanseatic traders. Housed in a rough-timber building dating from 1704, it starkly reveals the contrast between the austere living and working conditions of the merchant sailors and apprentices, and the comfortable lifestyle of the trade partners.
Highlights include the manager's office, private liquor cabinet and summer bedroom; the apprentices' quarters, where beds were shared by two men; the fish storage room; and the fiskeskrue (fish press), which pressed and processed over a million pounds (450,000kg) of fish a month.
An essential complement to the Hanseatic Museum, Schøtstuene is a reconstruction of one of the original assembly halls where the fraternity of Hanseatic merchants once met for their business meetings and beer guzzling.
The admission price also includes entry to the Fisheries Museum, and transport in the free shuttle bus, which runs half-hourly from Bryggen.
