The Kon-Tiki Museum sits next to the Fram Museum on Bygdøynes and tells the story of Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian explorer who spent his life trying to prove that ancient peoples could cross oceans on simple rafts and boats.
The centrepiece is the original Kon-Tiki raft. In 1947, Heyerdahl and five companions built a raft from balsa wood and native materials in Peru, pushed off from the coast, and drifted 8,000 kilometres across the Pacific Ocean. After 101 days at sea, they smashed into the reef at Raroia in French Polynesia. Heyerdahl wanted to demonstrate that South Americans could have colonised Polynesia using pre-Columbian technology. Scholars debated his theory for decades, but the voyage itself was undeniably extraordinary. The documentary he filmed on the raft won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1951, and his book has been translated into 70 languages.
The second major exhibit is Ra II, a boat built from papyrus reeds. In 1970, Heyerdahl sailed it from Morocco to Barbados to show that ancient Egyptians could have reached the Americas. A first attempt with Ra I in 1969 had failed when the boat broke apart in heavy seas, but Ra II completed the crossing.
The museum also covers Heyerdahl's archaeological work on Easter Island and his later expedition on the Tigris, a reed boat he sailed through the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean in 1977 to 1978. There is a small cinema showing the original Kon-Tiki documentary. If you want to watch it, plan an extra 70 minutes on top of the 45 minutes or so you will spend in the museum itself.
The centrepiece is the original Kon-Tiki raft. In 1947, Heyerdahl and five companions built a raft from balsa wood and native materials in Peru, pushed off from the coast, and drifted 8,000 kilometres across the Pacific Ocean. After 101 days at sea, they smashed into the reef at Raroia in French Polynesia. Heyerdahl wanted to demonstrate that South Americans could have colonised Polynesia using pre-Columbian technology. Scholars debated his theory for decades, but the voyage itself was undeniably extraordinary. The documentary he filmed on the raft won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1951, and his book has been translated into 70 languages.
The second major exhibit is Ra II, a boat built from papyrus reeds. In 1970, Heyerdahl sailed it from Morocco to Barbados to show that ancient Egyptians could have reached the Americas. A first attempt with Ra I in 1969 had failed when the boat broke apart in heavy seas, but Ra II completed the crossing.
The museum also covers Heyerdahl's archaeological work on Easter Island and his later expedition on the Tigris, a reed boat he sailed through the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean in 1977 to 1978. There is a small cinema showing the original Kon-Tiki documentary. If you want to watch it, plan an extra 70 minutes on top of the 45 minutes or so you will spend in the museum itself.