Polar Museum

Tromsø

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Fittingly for a town that was the launch pad for many pioneering expeditions to the North Pole, Tromsø's Polar Museum is an old-fashioned romp through life in the Arctic, taking in everything from the history of trapping to the ground-breaking expeditions of Nansen and Amundsen. There are some fascinating artefacts and black-and-white archive photos; though the stuffed remains of various formerly fuzzy, once-blubbery polar creatures are rather less fun...and there are lots of them.

The museum is in a harbourside building that served as Tromsø's customs house from 1833 to 1970.

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Nearby Tromsø attractions

1. Perspektivet

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The Tromsø Catholic Church was built in 1861 and is the world's northernmost Catholic bishopric.

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Tromsø's library is a wonderful example of contemporary Norwegian architecture, airy and streaming with light. There's also free internet access here.

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The Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum displays mainly 19th-century to present-day sculpture, photography, painting and handicrafts by artists from northern Norway.

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This statue to Norway's most famous polar explorer sits just uphill from the tourist office.

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