Norra Berget, open-air museum on Norra Stadsberget in Sundsvall, Sweden
Norra Berget is an open-air museum in Sundsvall where traditional wooden buildings have been gathered from across the region. The houses and farm structures are spread across the hillside and display how people in northern Sweden once lived and worked.
Medelpads Fornminnesförening was founded in 1906 on the initiative of Anders Wide, a Sundsvall-born orthopaedic professor in Uppsala who knew Artur Hazelius, creator of Skansen. Skansen served as the model for the open-air museum on Norra Stadsberget. The first curator from 1907 to 1932 was author Olof Högberg. In 2001 the association handed operations to Sundsvall Municipality, and since 2010 Sundsvalls museum has run the museum.
The open-air museum is run by Sundsvalls museum, which since 2010 has organised museum education with animals, summer fäbodstintor (farm maids) at the shieling, storytelling evenings, lectures and history walks. Local associations also hold a Christmas market, Walpurgis and Midsummer celebrations here.
The grounds are explored on foot and lead visitors up different levels of the hillside. Sturdy shoes are helpful since the paths are uneven and can be slippery when wet.
The 22-metre viewing tower, called Glasspinnen, was designed by city architect Hans Schlyter in functionalist style and built in 1954, replacing a wooden tower from 1897. It is closed in winter for safety, and before the first Sunday of Advent the municipality drapes it in lights so it looks like a giant Advent candle above the town.
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