Museum of Cultural History
Real Viking ships, medieval church treasures, and coins from every era — Norway's largest cultural history collection spread across two Oslo locations.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Oslo offline.
Run by the University of Oslo, KHM holds Norway's largest prehistoric and medieval archaeological collections. That means Viking ships at Bygdøy, a substantial cache of medieval church objects, a dedicated rune archive, an ethnographic collection spanning every continent, and the country's biggest historical coin collection — all in one institution.
What to look for
- The Viking ships at the Bygdøy peninsula site
- Medieval church objects — a substantial collection covering Norway's pre-Reformation heritage
- Norway's largest historical coin collection, drawn from the former Coin Cabinet (Myntkabinettet)
Two separate sites: the Historical Museum is at Frederiks gate 2 in the city centre; the Viking Ship Museum is on the Bygdøy peninsula — plan for two stops, not one.
Museum of Cultural History is one of 27 sights worth the detour in Oslo, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Oslo pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Oslo
- Oslo Opera HouseThe roof is a public plaza — walk straight up the white marble slope and look out over the Oslofjord.
- Munch Museum (MUNCH)Nearly 28,000 works by one artist — Munch left everything to Oslo, and Oslo built a whole museum around it.
- Akershus FortressSeven centuries of sieges, and it never fell once.
- Unity ArenaNorway's largest indoor venue — 25,000 people under one fixed roof, from handball finals to headline concerts.
- Royal PalaceParliament cut its funding mid-build — twice — and it still became Norway's royal seat.
- Oslo CathedralTwo royal weddings, two centuries of state ceremony — Oslo's main church has been at Stortorvet since 1697 and hasn't stopped working since.