Anders Sandvig (11 May 1862 – 11 February 1950) was a
Norwegian dentist
A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...
most noted for having founded
Maihaugen, an innovative regional
ethnological and
architectural
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...
museum in
Lillehammer
Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...
, documenting the
vernacular architecture of
Gudbrandsdalen.
Biography
Sandvig was born at
Bud in
Møre og Romsdal
Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is the ...
, Norway. He was the son of Sjur Sandvig and Maren Knudsdotter Hustad. He first worked as an apprentice with a jeweler in
Kristiansund where he often performed gold work for dentists. He was trained as a dentist in Kristiansund with later training at the
University of Oslo and in
Berlin.
During his stay in Germany, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. In 1885 moved to Lillehammer to start a dentist practice and promote his recovery. At this time he was the only dentist in
Gudbrandsdalen.
On a travel to
Skjåk in 1894, he came to the realization that Norwegian farmers had not yet begun to appreciate their cultural heritage. He acquired his first house, a dwelling house built in 1764 at Skjåk.
The building was moved to the large property he had near Lillehammer.
By the turn of the century he had six antiquarian buildings and a large amount of other objects. In 1902, the Society for Lillehammer Byes Vel bought the collection and had it moved to Maihaugen just outside of Lillehammer.
The city of Lillehammer set aside an area known as
Maihaugen and bought Sandvig's collection and established the Sandvig Collections (''De Sandvigske Samlinger'') in 1904. Sandvig was at first hired as unpaid curator, but was later appointed the museum's first director.
Sandvig also traveled extensively to promote ethnological museums, including
Vesterheim
Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa is the National Norwegian-American Museum and Folk Art School, with over 33,000 artifacts, 12 historic buildings, and a library and archives. This treasure showcases one of the most extensive ...
in
Decorah, Iowa.
Personal life
In 1889 he married Anna Georgine Uchermann (1868–1950). In 1900 he became a knight and in 1907 commander of the
Order of St. Olav
The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav ( no, Den Kongelige Norske Sankt Olavs Orden; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II ...
. He was also commander of the Swedish
Order of Vasa. He retired from the museum in 1947 at 85 years of age. He died in 1950 at Lillehammer.
References
Other sources
*Engen, Arnfinn (2004) ''Samlaren Anders Sandvig'' (Samlaget: Oslo)
*Jacobsen, Gaute; Wallin Weihe, Hans-Jørgen (2012) ''Anders Sandvig og Maihaugen'' (Hertevig Akademiske: Stavanger)
External links
Maihaugen website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandvig, Anders
1862 births
1950 deaths
People from Møre og Romsdal
University of Oslo alumni
Norwegian dentists
Norwegian curators
Directors of museums in Norway
Order of Saint Olav
Recipients of the Order of Vasa