Hanseatic Museum

From the fourteenth century to the eighteenth, Bryggen housed the Bergen Kontor of the Hanseatic League, where German merchants ran the dried fish trade under their own rules: men only, unmarried, living and working in wooden trading houses stacked with stockfish. The museum occupies one of those buildings, Finnegarden, preserved with its cramped bed cupboards, offices, counting rooms and storage lofts largely as they stood, giving a strong impression of a life that was crowded, cold and rigidly hierarchical. The Schotstuene, the assembly rooms nearby, held the only fires permitted in the quarter, since fire was banned in the trading houses themselves, and served as kitchens, courtrooms and meeting halls. Long restoration has closed parts of the site in recent years.

What you actually see

• The bed cupboards - enclosed sleeping boxes used by merchants and apprentices.
• The counting rooms - offices and storage of the stockfish trade.
• The Schotstuene - the assembly rooms where fires and cooking were allowed.
• The trading house structure - a wooden building of stacked lofts and passages.

When to go

May to September for the fullest opening; winter hours are short and parts of the site have been closed for extended restoration, so checking what is open before buying a ticket is worthwhile.

Honest expectations

Restoration has closed the main Finnegarden building for long periods, with the Schotstuene operating in its place. The interiors are dark and cramped by design. Ticket arrangements have changed with the restoration work.

Nearby

Bryggens Museum is next door; St Mary's Church and the fish market are close.