Jostedalsbreen nasjonalparksenter is a visitors center in the village of Oppstryn in the municipality of

Stryn Stryn is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Stryn. The municipality is located along the innermost part of t ...

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The center is east of the villages of Loen and

Olden Olden may refer to: Places *Olden, Norway, a village in Stryn, Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway *Olden, Missouri, an unincorporated community *Olden, Texas, a community in Eastland county, Texas, USA People *Charles Smith Olden, an American polit ...

, on the shore of the lake

Oppstrynsvatn Oppstrynsvatn (also known as ''Oppstrynsvatnet'', ''Strynevatnet'', or ''Strynevatn'') is a lake in the municipality of Stryn in Vestland county, Norway. It is located about east of the village of Stryn (the administrative centre of the munici ...

. The mountain Skåla and the glaciers

Briksdalsbreen Briksdalsbreen ( en, the Briksdal glacier) is one of the most accessible and best known arms of the Jostedalsbreen glacier. Briksdalsbreen is located in the municipality of Stryn in Vestland county, Norway. The glacier lies on the north side of t ...

and

Jostedalsbreen Jostedal Glacier or is the largest glacier in continental Europe. It is in Vestland county in Western Norway. Jostedalsbreen lies in the municipalities of Luster, Norway, Luster, Sogndal, Sunnfjord (municipality), Sunnfjord, and Stryn. The high ...

are to the southwest of this visitor's center. Jostedalsbreen nasjonalparksenter is one of the three visitor's centers in

Jostedalsbreen National Park Jostedalsbreen National Park ( no, Jostedalsbreen nasjonalpark) is a national park in Norway that encompasses the largest glacier on the European mainland, Jostedalsbreen. The park was established by royal decree on 25 October 1991, and then in ...

. The center is owned by a private foundation. Prime Minister

Gro Harlem Brundtland Gro Brundtland (; born Gro Harlem, 20 April 1939) is a Norwegian politician (Arbeiderpartiet), who served three terms as the 29th prime minister of Norway (1981, 1986–89, and 1990–96) and as the director-general of the World Health Organizati ...

officiated at the formal opening of the center on 19 June 1993, although it was opened to the public in 1992. The main building at the centre was constructed in a manner similar to

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

long house A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from timber and often rep ...

s where pillars rather than the walls are supporting the roof. The Viking longhouse here is the size of the biggest actual longhouse found in Norway. There is also a cinema building which is used to show a panorama film of the glaciers in the park. The center also has a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

and geological park with native plants and rocks. The main building houses exhibits about the area's culture, animal life, and history. There is also information about

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...

References

External links

Official site
Natural history museums in Norway Museums in Vestland Stryn {{Norway-museum-stub