What to do and see in Kongsberg, Norway: The Best Places and Tips

The Norwegian Mining Museum including The Silves Mines collection of native silver, Norwegian minerals and miningindustry, Kongsberg skiing history, the coin and medal collection and the Kongsberg industry cololection are five Exhibitions located under one roof in the city centre of Kongsberg. One ticket will give you access to all five museums. The Norwegian Mining Museum offers you the history of the Silver Mines and the worlds largest and most precious display of native silver. The Ski Museum has an astonishing collection consisting of over 5000 trophys. The Royal Mint Museum gives you an insight of the citys coin production from its beginning up until today. The museum of arms and weapons opened the year 2000 and conveys the industrial history of Kongsberg starting 1814. The Silvermines Join a train ride that takes you 342 meters below the surface and 2,3 km into the mountain. Inside the King’s mine there is a guided tour through stopes, adits and shafts. A mine elevator built in 1881 (“Fahrkunst”), is just one of many things to see on this tour, which takes 1,5 hours. The temperature is 6°C, so please dress warm! Children under 3 years are not permitted to entre the Silvermines.

The largest Baroque/Roccoco Church in Norway The Church of Kongsberg is the largest baroque/roccoco church in Norway Seating 2400 people. The Church is a unique structure with altar, pulpit and pipe organ built into one manificent altar wall facing the treasurebearing mountain. The church interior also features a beautifully decorated kings loge and two enormous glass chandeleirs from Nostetangen Glassverk. The Gloger organ Gottfried Heinrich Gloger designed, built and installed the famous Gloger organ in Kongsberg church. It is said to be Northern-Europes largest baroque instrument, and is frequented by some of the greatest organ players in the world.

Lagdal Folk Museum is the regional museum for Kongsberg and Numedal, and is the only museum in Norway with an exhibition on optical science. The open-air museum includes a reconstruction of a street from Kongsberg the venerable Glitre gard, one-time home to a noted mining official Norway’s last remaining tower barn and several farm buildings from Numedal, where traditional Norwegian farm animals graze during the summer. The museum also contains a Resistance Museum, a folk art exhibition, a collection of old shops and workshops, and a unique section on optical science.

The Labro museums consist of The Norwegian watercourse museum, The Numedalslagen’s timber floating museum and The Norwegian road museum, department Labro. Labro is situated south of Kongsberg by the Labro waterfall. The name Labro means “the brigde across Lagen”. The Labro area has an exciting past and archeological findings show that people have lived here since the bronze age. The Labro waterfall was a popular theme amongst the Norwegian painters in the national romantic period in the 19th century and has been immortalized by well-known painters like J.C. Dahl, Thomas Fearnley and Hans Gude. The Norwegian watercourse museum The Norwegian watercourse museum is situated in the Labro power station dating back to 1910 and has the watercourse history alongside Numedal as its main theme. The exhibition tells you about the nature, the industry and the culture along the watercourse, from Hardangervidda in the north to Larvik in the south. Here is also an exhibition about the production of hydroelectric power and an exhibition about the fire department in Kongsberg. The Numedalslagen’s timber floating museum The Numedalslagen’s timber floating museum is situated in the old dam building. It illustrates the importance of wood and timber in Numedals watercourse. Authentic contrivances and a rich collection of photos, shows us forestry and timber floating along Numedalslagen. The old “slide” for sliding logs in, is one of the longest which is preserved in the country. The Norwegian road museum, department Labro This regional road museum shows the history of road development in the County of Buskerud. The main exhibition in “Langbrakka” shows how transport and roads have gradually changed from walking and horseriding earthtracks to modern highways. In the old Moen road station barracks a workshop and a forge with equipment and tools are established. Outdoors you will find equipment for rock drilling, stone crushing and snow removal, together with stump-pullers, graders and other construction and maintenance machinery. In the building in front of “Langbrakka” a separate exhibition shows the development of the “Transport and vehicle control”.