Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum ( no, Norsk Industriarbeidermuseum) is an industrial
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
located at
Rjukan
Rjukan () is a town and the administrative centre of Tinn municipality in Telemark, Norway. It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Lake Tinn, and got its name after Rjukan Falls west of the town. The Tinn municipality council grant ...
in
Tinn
Tinn is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional regions of Upper Telemark and Øst-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Rjukan.
The parish of ''T ...
,
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 ...
. Located in the
Vemork
Vemork is a hydroelectric power plant outside Rjukan in Tinn, Norway. The plant was built by Norsk Hydro and opened in 1911, its main purpose being to fix nitrogen for the production of fertilizer. At opening, it was the world's largest power pl ...
power station, it was established in 1988 to allow the preservation of industrial society created by
Norsk Hydro
Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around the world an ...
when they established themselves in Rjukan in 1907. The museum is an anchor point on the
European Route of Industrial Heritage
The European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH) is a tourist route of the most important industrial heritage sites in Europe. This is a tourism industry information initiative to present a network of industrial heritage sites across Europe. The a ...
.
Premise
The research and exhibitions of the museum span the history of power-intensive industry in Norway after 1900; including
hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...
, electrochemical industry and the premise for the workers. In particular local heritage from Tinn and the
Norwegian heavy water sabotage
The Norwegian heavy water sabotage ( nb, Tungtvannsaksjonen; nn, Tungtvassaksjonen) was a series of Allied-led efforts to halt German heavy water production via hydroelectric plants in Nazi Germany-occupied Norway during World War II, involvi ...
are given high priority.
History
The foundation running the museum was established on November 3, 1983 by the municipality, the
Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate
The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate ( no, Norges vassdrags- og energidirektorat or NVE) is a Norwegian government agency established in 1921. It is under the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and regulates the country's water reso ...
and the labour unions
Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions
The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions ( no, Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, LO) is a national trade union center, decidedly the largest and probably the most influential umbrella organization of labour unions in Norway. The 21 national unions ...
,
Norwegian Workers Education Association,
Norwegian Union of Chemical Industry Workers
The Norwegian Union of Chemical Industry Workers ( no, Norsk Kjemisk Industriarbeiderforbund, NKIF) was a trade union representing workers in the chemical industry in Norway.
The union was founded in 1924, as a split from the Norwegian Union of G ...
and
EL & IT Forbundet
The Electrician and IT Workers' Union ( no, EL og IT Forbundet, EL og IT) is a trade union in Norway.
The union was formed by the 1999 merger of the Norwegian Union of Electricians and Power Station Workers, and the Norwegian Telecommunication ...
. Later this was supplemented by the
United Federation of Trade Unions
The United Federation of Trade Unions ( no, Fellesforbundet) is a general union in Norway. With a membership of 150,000 it is the largest private sector union in the country.
History
The union is affiliated with the Norwegian Confederation of T ...
,
Statkraft
Statkraft AS is a hydropower company, fully owned by the Norwegian state. The Statkraft Group is a generator of renewable energy, as well as Norway’s largest and the Nordic region's third largest energy producer. Statkraft develops and generates ...
and
Statnett
Statnett is a Norwegian state owned enterprise responsible for owning, operating and constructing the stem power grid in Norway. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway.
Statnett also owns 30% of the Nord Pool Spot along with other Nordi ...
, but the latter two have since left. The museum moved into the
Vemork
Vemork is a hydroelectric power plant outside Rjukan in Tinn, Norway. The plant was built by Norsk Hydro and opened in 1911, its main purpose being to fix nitrogen for the production of fertilizer. At opening, it was the world's largest power pl ...
power station, since Norsk Hydro had abandoned the
hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...
plant in 1971—and the first plant in the world to mass-produce
heavy water. The first
curator
A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...
was hired in 1984, followed by two more employees in 1985. This phase of the establishing had a widespread goal, attempting to preserve both pre- and post-industrial heritage from Rjukan, including the establishment of Tinn Museum, a heritage village dedicated to the preindustrial society, in 1984. The permanent exhibition at Vemork was opened on June 20, 1988.
In 2004 Tinn Museum was integrated into the Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum; which has the responsibilities for preserving local history from Tinn. This includes a digitalized collection of more than 30,000 photographs. The industry at Rjukan had its own railway,
Rjukanbanen
, logo =
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, that connected to the
Tinnsjø railway ferry
Tinnsjø railway ferry was a Norwegian railway ferry service on Lake Tinn that connected the Rjukan Line and Tinnoset Line. The long ferry trip made it possible for Norsk Hydro to transport its fertilizer from the plant at Rjukan to the port in ...
. In 2004 the foundation running the heritage railway was discontinued, and in 2007 the Norwegian Industry Workers Museum was launched as the new operator by the
Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage
The Directorate for Cultural Heritage ( no, Riksantikvaren or ''Direktoratet for kulturminneforvaltning'') is a government agency responsible for the management of cultural heritage in Norway. Subordinate to the Norwegian Ministry of the Environm ...
. This would allow the plants and Rjukan along with the railway, and equivalent closed plants at
Odda
Odda () is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1913 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county. It was located in southeastern Hordaland c ...
to be nominated as a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
by the directorate. In 2007 the
Norwegian Ministry of Culture
The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Equality ( no, Det kongelige kultur- og likestillingsdepartement; short name ''Kultur- og likestillingsdepartementet'') is responsible for cultural policy, regulations and other matters related to the ...
announced they would give
NOK
Nok is a village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site.
Archaeology
The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, of which these ...
8 million for the expansion of the museum.
See also
*
Heddal Open Air Museum
Heddal Open Air Museum (''Heddal bygdetun'') is an open-air museum located in the village of Heddal at Notodden in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway.
Heddal Open Air Museum is located near the historic Heddal Stave Church. Heddal Museum has v ...
References
External links
Official site
{{Authority control
Museums in Vestfold og Telemark
Industry museums in Norway
Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions
Tinn
Museums established in 1983
Science museums in Norway