Norwegian Olympic Museum
Encyclopedia
Lillehammer
is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway, globally known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
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Norwegian Olympic Museum (NOM) in Hakon's Hall in Lillehammer, was officially opened by King Harald V and Queen Sonja on November 27, 1997. It is the only museum in northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
that presents the entire history of the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
. The museum has more than 7,000 Olympic items in all. NOM was consolidated with a separate agreement with Maihaugen
Maihaugen
Maihaugen is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Lillehammer, Norway. Maihaugen, with close to 200 buildings, is one of Northern Europe's largest open air museums and is one of the largest cultural facilities in Norway.-History:The founder, Anders Sandvig, collected from old houses and...
during 2006. Maihaugen has taken over operational responsibility for NOM. Architect of the exhibitions are Gudmundur Jonsson Architects, Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
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The museum’s historical section shows Olympic history from 776 BC and presents all the Olympic Games of modern times since 1896 through texts, videos and sound recordings. There is a separate section for the 1994 Winter Olympics
1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event. Lillehammer was awarded the games in 1988, after having beat...
in Lillehammer that includes the egg from the opening ceremony, presentation of medal winners, video films, design and culture. The museum also contains an Olympic Room where you will find the Norwegian Sports Honorary Gallery, a collection of Olympic stamps and one of the world’s largest pin collections.