Leiråker - The Norwegian Forest-Finnish Museum

About

The Åsta Holth Museum at Leiråker
Leiråker is the author Åsta Holth's home and was given as a testamentary gift upon the author's death in 1999 and has been run as a museum since 2004. From 2016 to 2019, the garden at Leiråker was developed as a result of a gift of more than 2,000 different plants.

The buildings at Leiråker are as they were in Åsta's time, with a farmhouse that she expanded upon twice, a storehouse, a barn with an attached combined pig and hen house,  outhouse and playroom. In the playroom, Åsta's brother ran a kiosk for a period - at a time when road traffic passed by at a more leisurely pace.

Åsta Holth was far more than a small farmer and author of novels, short stories and poetry collections. She worked actively with housework, primarily textiles, and was a needlework teacher at schools in both Grue and Åsnes. It was Åsta who created the Finnskogbunaden, after an extensive examination of old textiles in museums, and with long-term contact with specialist circles in Finland. The Finnskog bunada is available as both a women's and a men's bunad, and in the first days of the women's bunad it was Åsta who also wove much of the fabric on her loom.

Finnskoghagan (The Finnskog Garden) at Leiråker
The Finnskog garden at Leiråker is an extensive further development of the garden at Åsta Holth's small farm. The basis for the further development is a generous gift of several hundred ornamental and useful plants from a private garden, which were moved to Leiråker over a 3-year period. The garden was officially opened during Finnskog days in July 2019.

The many hundreds of ornamental and useful plants in the garden create floral splendor from early spring to late autumn. The different species and varieties bloom at different times, so the garden must be visited several times throughout the year to get all the variety.

Be aware that there are some poisonous plants in the garden, so the main rule is not to touch plants you don't know. Remember to keep an eye on the children in the garden.

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.


Please note that this product has yet to be professionally translated. Until then a machine translation has been provided.