Holmestrand museum

HOLMESTRAND MUSEUM

EXPERIENCE HOLMESTRAND'S HISTORY FROM THE 1500S AND UP TO "THE 20 CENTURY"

Holmestrand Museum Association is the owner of the property Nils Kjærs gate 4 and has established a town museum in almost the entire house which is operated on a daily basis. The house which is a patrician house from 1756 also has an interesting history.

The house was built for the Holst family who operated in shipping and trade, as well as several farms in Botne. Holmestrand Municipality bought the farm in the 1850s. Here the Citizens' School was held and several well-known persons from Holmestrand were students here. The school moved to Gausetangen in the 1890s, and a school for the deaf was established. Later, it moved to Nedre Gausen. The museum bought the building in 1932.

The Holmestrand Museum has various exhibitions:

▪️ The Holst living room dates back to what it probably looked like in the 1840s, when the house was inhabited by the Holst family.

▪️ On the second floor there is a maritime department that tells a little about shipbuilding in Holmestrand and whether the maritime town of Holmestrand was during the sailing season.

▪️ The author, Sven Elvestad, referred to Holmestrand as "a world pocket-sized town". The museum shows the town's development in a separate exhibition.

▪️ The Clock- and optician master Brastad's shop was given by the family to the museum and shows how a traditional craftsman business was run.

▪️ The kitchen is designed to tell what a kitchen in a patisserie house might look like when the house was inhabited by the Holst family.

▪️ The living room shows how a family may have lived while the man was at sea and his wife and children were waiting at home.

▪️ The area around Mulvika is told about in its own room, including history of shipbuilding and industrial establishment.

The museum has guided tours every Wednesday throughout the year, but also every Sunday in the summer-season.

Private guided tours outside the opening hours can be arranged for groups.