The Fram Museum on Bygdøynes houses the most famous ship in Norwegian polar history. The Fram, meaning "Forward", is the wooden vessel that sailed further north and further south than any other ship of its era, and it is displayed here in its entirety, towering above the visitors who walk beneath its hull.
The ship was designed by the Scottish-Norwegian shipbuilder Colin Archer to the specifications of Fridtjof Nansen, who needed a vessel that could survive being frozen into the Arctic ice without being crushed. The hull is rounded so that ice pressure pushes the ship upward rather than inward. It was launched in 1892 and went on three major expeditions.
The first was Nansen's own attempt to reach the North Pole in 1893 to 1896. He deliberately sailed the Fram into the pack ice north of Siberia and let it drift westward for nearly three years, reaching 85 degrees 57 minutes north, closer to the Pole than anyone before him. Nansen himself left the ship and attempted the final stretch on foot and skis, but had to turn back.
The second expedition was led by Otto Sverdrup from 1898 to 1902, mapping over 260,000 square kilometres of the Canadian Arctic archipelago, more than any other Arctic expedition in history.
The third, and most famous, was Roald Amundsen's race to the South Pole in 1910 to 1912. Amundsen and four companions reached the Pole on 14 December 1911, a full month before the British team led by Robert Falcon Scott.
Visitors can board the Fram and walk through the crew quarters, the engine room, and the storage holds. Everything is original. In the side building, connected by a tunnel, sits the Gjøa, the small sloop Amundsen used to become the first to navigate the Northwest Passage in 1903 to 1906. He bought the 47-ton vessel, born the same year as himself, 1872, and slipped out of Oslo harbour at midnight to avoid his creditors. Nansen personally guaranteed the debts. The Gjøa stood outside the museum for forty years before getting its own building in 2013. Plan at least an hour, preferably more.
The ship was designed by the Scottish-Norwegian shipbuilder Colin Archer to the specifications of Fridtjof Nansen, who needed a vessel that could survive being frozen into the Arctic ice without being crushed. The hull is rounded so that ice pressure pushes the ship upward rather than inward. It was launched in 1892 and went on three major expeditions.
The first was Nansen's own attempt to reach the North Pole in 1893 to 1896. He deliberately sailed the Fram into the pack ice north of Siberia and let it drift westward for nearly three years, reaching 85 degrees 57 minutes north, closer to the Pole than anyone before him. Nansen himself left the ship and attempted the final stretch on foot and skis, but had to turn back.
The second expedition was led by Otto Sverdrup from 1898 to 1902, mapping over 260,000 square kilometres of the Canadian Arctic archipelago, more than any other Arctic expedition in history.
The third, and most famous, was Roald Amundsen's race to the South Pole in 1910 to 1912. Amundsen and four companions reached the Pole on 14 December 1911, a full month before the British team led by Robert Falcon Scott.
Visitors can board the Fram and walk through the crew quarters, the engine room, and the storage holds. Everything is original. In the side building, connected by a tunnel, sits the Gjøa, the small sloop Amundsen used to become the first to navigate the Northwest Passage in 1903 to 1906. He bought the 47-ton vessel, born the same year as himself, 1872, and slipped out of Oslo harbour at midnight to avoid his creditors. Nansen personally guaranteed the debts. The Gjøa stood outside the museum for forty years before getting its own building in 2013. Plan at least an hour, preferably more.