Ájtte, the Swedish Mountain and Sami Museum (), is a cultural and natural history museum in

Jokkmokk Jokkmokk () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Jokkmokk Municipality in Norrbotten County, provinces of Sweden, province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland, Sweden, with 2,786 inhabitants in 2010. The Lule Sámi name of the place (compos ...

in Lapland,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Ájtte is a museum, which specializes in the culture and nature of the mountainous area of Northern Sweden, and which is also the main museum and archive for the

Sami culture Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

of Sweden. Ájtte is also an information centre for tourism in Lapland. The word ''ájtte'' is a

Lule Sami language Lule Sámi (, , ) is a Uralic- Sámi language spoken around the Lule River in Sweden and in the northern parts of Nordland county in Norway. In Norway it is especially seen in Hamarøy Municipality (formerly Tysfjord Municipality), where Lule S ...

one, meaning storage hut and referring to the museum as an archive for artifacts of the Sami cultural heritage. Ájtte was inaugurated in June 1989 and has a staff of about 25 employees. The museum is owned and managed by a foundation, which was established in 1983 by the Swedish Government, the Norrbotten Region, the

Jokkmokk Municipality Jokkmokk Municipality (, , , ) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Jokkmokk. The name ''Jokkmokk'' is Sami for the words "river" and "bend", since the town is situated close to a bend in the nearby r ...

and the two national Sami organizations Svenska Samernas Riksförbund (National Union of Swedish Sami people) and Same Ätnam (Sami land). According to an agreement on financing of the museum, which was entered into the same year, the Government bodies commit themselves to a long term financial contribution to the museum. Such funds are the result of a court decision regarding compensation after rivers in Lapland have been exploited for electric power generation. The Swedish government appoints the chairman and three of the members of the board of the foundation. Thus, government funds cover around half of the current budget of the museum.Enquiry into the coordination of museums in Sweden, SOU 2009:15, page 144

Jokkmokk Alpine Garden

Since 1995 Ájtte has established an alpine botanical garden at the valley of Kvarnbäcken in Jokkmokk with plants from different environments of the mountain range of Northern Scandinavia. One of the century-old researcher cottages from

Sarek National Park Sarek National Park () is a national park in Jokkmokk Municipality, Lapland in northern Sweden. Established in 1909, the park is among the oldest national parks in Europe. It is adjacent to two other national parks, namely Stora Sjöfallet and ...

, designed and used by the pioneering scientist

Axel Hamberg Axel Hamberg (17 January 1863 – 28 June 1933) was a Swedish mineralogist, geographer and explorer. Biography Hamberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He was the son of Nils Peter Hamberg (1815-1902) and Emma Augusta Christina Härnström (18 ...

, has been dismantled and moved from Sarek and reerected in the botanical garden.

References

*Swedish Government White Paper, ''Kraftsamling - museisamverkan ger resultat'', SOU 2009:15, by Museikoordinatorsutredningen (The Committee on the Coordination of Swedish museums), pp 142–46

External links

Ájtte, Svensk fjäll- och samemuseum website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajtte Museums in Norrbotten County Natural history museums in Sweden Folk museums in Sweden Sámi museums Jokkmokk Municipality