The age of polar explorers
Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, and Roald Amundsen, along with all their crew members, used the polar ship Fram when they set out on their expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic.
The ship was designed and built by Colin Archer, commissioned by Fridtjof Nansen. However, it is not a given that the world’s strongest wooden ship still exists today.
Restoration
The Fram returned from Buenos Aires in 1914 and lay moored at Horten, exposed to the elements. After World War I, a number of committees worked to preserve the polar ship, but without success. The project’s staunchest advocate, Otto Sverdrup, was elected chairman of the Fram Committee in 1925. He continued to fight tirelessly alongside committee members and other key figures for years. In 1929, the Fram was towed to a shipyard—Framnæs Mekaniske Verksted in Sandefjord. There, under Otto Sverdrup’s supervision, the ship was repaired with excellent support from Consul Lars Christensen.
In 1930, the Fram was finally restored to the condition it had been in during Otto Sverdrup’s expedition to the islands northwest of Greenland. Otto Sverdrup died the same year the Fram took part in a major event in Trondheim. It took a long time before she finally found a permanent home.
A new home
In 1934, the Oslo Association of Architects offered to hold an architectural competition to design a building for the revered vessel. Sixty entries were submitted, and the winner was the architect Bjarne Tøien with his entry, “Saga.”
The Fram was pulled into its new home by an electric motor. The ship moved at a rate of one centimeter per minute.
Opening May 20th, 1936
The Fram Museum finally opened on May 20, 1936. Both His Majesty King Haakon VII and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Olav were present. A national monument was finally in place.
Through the years
The building has acquired the famous shape for which it is known today.
Today, the Fram Museum houses exhibitions on the most famous voyages of global historical significance. The museum’s centerpiece is, of course, the world’s strongest wooden ship: the polar vessel Fram. Visitors can go on board and explore the cabins, saloons, cargo hold, and engine room.
Gjøa
The Gjøa Building, connected to the Fram by an underground tunnel, houses the Gjøa, the first ship to navigate the entire Northwest Passage.
From 1906 to 1972, she was exhibited in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
Gjøa returns home
She stood outside the Fram Museum for forty years before finally getting her own protective building in 2013.
The Gjøa building today
In addition to historical exhibitions on the expeditions of the Gjøa and Maud, the aircrafts N24 and N25 and the airship Norge, John Franklin’s legendary expedition, and the journeys of Henry Larsen and Eivind Astrup, the building also houses temporary exhibitions and serves as a spectacular venue for events.
N25 flight simulator – opened to mark the centenary of Amundsen’s flights towards the North Pole in 1925.
History continues
Visitor numbers have ranged from 18,000 in the year it opened to a low of 5,000 during the Second World War (1940–1945). After the war, visitor numbers increased annually, and in 2025, we reached the current record of over 413,000 visitors!
On August 5, 1999, the total number of visitors reached 10 million.
The Fram Museum has long topped the list of Norway’s best museums and attractions and has won awards for its content.
In 2020, the Fram Museum won an “Outstanding Achievement THEA Award” for the museum upgrade completed in 2018.
We are open every day of the year. Tickets available HERE.
Welcome to the Fram Museum!