Petter Dass Museum

Petter Dass was priest at Alstahaug from 1689 until his death in 1707, and his long poem Nordlands Trompet described the landscape, weather, fisheries and people of northern Norway in detail that made it a founding text of the region's identity; sailors along the coast are said to have kept a black patch on their sail in his memory for a century after. The museum, opened in 2007, is a building by Snohetta inserted into a cleft blasted through a rock ridge beside the medieval church where he served, so the structure is held between two rock walls with glass ends looking out to the Seven Sisters peaks and the sea. The twelfth-century stone church and the old parsonage stand alongside.

Background

The Petter Dass Museum at Alstahaug is devoted to the priest and poet Petter Dass. It was founded in 1966 and is part of the Helgeland Museum, and in 1999, when Alstahaug was chosen as Nordland county's millennium site, it played a central part. Its oldest buildings make up the old parsonage from the first half of the 18th century, open from June to August or by arrangement. Work on a new building by the Snohetta office began in September 2005, and after several delays it opened on 20 October 2007, at a cost of about 90 million kroner shared by the municipality, the county, the state and private donors; it is open every day except Mondays and some holidays.

Source: Wikipedia, "Petter Dass Museum"

The main sights

• The Snohetta building - a museum set inside a blasted rock cleft.
• The medieval church - a twelfth-century stone church beside it.
• The Dass exhibition - his life, poetry and its place in northern identity.
• The Seven Sisters view - the peaks and coast framed by the glass ends.

When to go

May to September for the fullest opening and the best light through the building; winter hours are shorter. The Helgeland coastal route passes close, making it a natural stop on that drive.

Before you go

The poetry is in Norwegian and dated in language, so much of the content is inaccessible without the language despite English summaries. The building is more striking than the exhibition. Opening hours are limited outside summer.

Nearby

Sandnessjoen and the Seven Sisters peaks are close; the Helgeland coastal route runs past.

Key facts