Gruetunet - The Norwegian Forest-Finnish Museum

About

Gruetunet Museum
The museum is located at Kirkenær in Grue municipality, 30 km north of Kongsvinger and 20 km south of Flisa. Gruetunet was founded in 1942 and is a museum that primarily displays buildings and culture from the Solør and Glomma valleys and, since the mid-1970s, has also worked with Finnish forest culture.

It was the gully building at Nygard on Namnå that was the beginning of the museum. It was protected by the National Heritage, but had to be demolished to make room for a new residential building. The National Antiquary sent a letter to Kirkenær Vel asking if there was any way to save the building. The letter was forwarded to teacher Gunnar Tanga, who got down to business and obtained land and craftsmen who took down and put the building back up again - all during 1942.

Establishing a museum during the Second World War in an occupied Norway created some additional challenges. Only when the Nygårdsbygningen was in place were plans developed to create an entire museum. During the 1940s and 50s, most of the buildings were moved to the museum.

On the museum grounds, you will find 25 buildings, divided into the main courtyard, farmstead and seats. In the 1960s, Gruetunet was one of the most visited party venues in the whole of Eastern Norway, and several of the buildings from this party period are housed in a separate section of the open-air museum. There have been many such "people's parks" for outdoor parties in this eastern part of Sør-Hedmark.

Please get in touch, should you like to arrange a tour.

The Norwegian Forest-Finnish Museum
The Norwegian Forest-Finnish Museum is a foundation consisting of four founders/departments; Åsnes Finnskog History Association, Gruetunet Museum, Finnetunet and Austmarka History Association. The foundation manages the founders' properties and also owns buildings acquired after 2005, which is the year of foundation.

Some of the departments have existed for more than 75 years and make the museum one of the largest in Norway in terms of collection size. The museum's administration is located in rented premises at Svullrya in Svullrya old school, but a new museum building is being planned at Svullrya.

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