Right next to the Kon-Tiki Museum is located FRAM – dedicated to “the strongest ship in the world – Fram.” This Norwegian schooner was built in 1892 and was used in the most important polar expeditions. During the Fridtjofa Nasenn expedition on the North Pole (in 1893-1896) sailed along the coast of Russia to the Novosibirsk islands, and on the way back came within a few steps of the pole. Another trip FRAM took Otto Sverdrup in 1898-1902. He circumnavigated Greenland from the south and west and reached the far northern Canadian island of Ellesmere.
Ship was used by Roald Amundsen in the years 1910-1912 for sailing to the coast of Antarctica, from where he departed on foot in a deadly race to the South Pole against the Englishman Robert Scott. Amundsen won, he was the first to reach it on 14 December 1911. Scott arrived there a month later and died on the way back. This fascinating story and others describing the discovery of the Arctic and Antarctic are presented in an interesting exhibition, richly illustrated with photographs, maps and reminders of the polar explorers. The biggest attraction is the ship “Fram”, located in the middle of the building. You can enter it and see what life of the great travelers looked like.
In the hall there is a twilight blue glow. Around the building are balconies with exhibits, connected by stairs. To get on the ship you have to climb the stairs to the balcony and there use highest bridge to get on board the vessel.
On the ship you can see all the accessories, you can go below and watch how the engine area, sailors’ cabin, and equipment cabins looked.
The most surprising was the small room of the onboard doctor, which was equipped with all the necessary on-board medical devices. So he had forceps to pull teeth and a saw to cut bone (if someone needed a limb amputated).
The FRAM Museum is definitely the most beautiful museum we visited that day and we would highly recommend it to all visitors to Oslo.
And here’s a video of our visit:
Regular price per adult NOK 100, children NOK 40, and a family ticket (2 + 3) costs 200 NOK.