Ringve Music Museum

Ringve was the estate of Christian Anker Bachke and his wife Victoria, a Russian-born émigré, who together gathered musical instruments from across the world; the collection opened to the public as a museum in 1952, and Victoria Bachke directed it until 1963. It runs to around 1,500 instruments, displayed in two parts: the manor house, where guides play period keyboards and strings during the tour, and a converted barn holding a larger exhibition covering instrument families, folk instruments including the Hardanger fiddle, and Norwegian music history. Around the buildings, the Ringve Botanical Garden covers about thirteen hectares of the old estate with themed planting, an arboretum and a herb garden, free to walk and used by the city as a park.

History

Ringve farm was the childhood home of the nobleman Peter Tordenskjold; the first house here was built in 1521, and the present buildings date from the 1740s onwards. The Bachke family bought the estate at auction in 1878, Christian Anker Bachke took it over in 1919 and married Victoria Rostin that year, and their collection of instruments opened to the public as a museum in 1952 (Wikipedia, Ringve Museum).

Highlights

• The manor collection - period instruments played by guides on the tour.
• The barn exhibition - around 1,500 instruments across families and traditions.
• The Hardanger fiddles - Norwegian folk instruments in context.
• The botanical garden - thirteen hectares of estate grounds, free to enter.

When to go

May to September, when the garden is at its best and the manor tours run most frequently; the barn exhibition opens year-round on reduced winter hours. The garden is open and free at all times.

Before you go

The manor is seen only on guided tours at set times, which limits flexibility. The barn exhibition is self-guided but large. Getting there needs a bus or car from the centre.

Nearby

Lade's coastal path runs nearby; central Trondheim and Bakklandet are fifteen minutes away.

Key facts