Stavanger - Norway - page 246

area is now gentrified and rather exclusive, and much attention is focused on
these whitewashed wooden houses, often with creepers or geraniums growing in
flower boxes. The dollhouse homes are often separated by small terraced gar-
dens. In the evening, lampposts from the 1890s light your way through the fog.
Norsk Barnemuseum (Norwegian Children's Museum) This is the
greatest playpen in Norway for children ages 5 to 12. In fact, it is one of the best
children's museums in all of Europe. Exhibits center around almost anything
related to children. You get documentation and exhibitions, of course, but the
museum also satisfies a kid's desire to play with toys—it has the largest collec-
tion in the country. Storytelling and performances for children are also staged
here. Activities include climbing up into the “Scary Attic,” or visiting a secret
treehouse, or kids can even embark on a journey in a toy box or whisper into “a
bag of secrets.” This is very much a hands-on museum for kids, who are allowed
to play with toys as well as paint, sing, write, or whatever. The museum also has
more serious exhibits dealing with children's rights around the world.
Sølvberget 2. & 51-91-23-90. Admission 65NOK ($9.25) adults, 35NOK ($4.95) children. Tues-Sat
11am-3:30pm; Sun noon-4:30pm; mid-June to mid-Aug also Mon 11am-3:30pm.
Norsk Oljemuseum (Norwegian Petroleum Museum) Opened
in 1999, this is one of the most unusual museums in Scandinavia, and already a
much-photographed landmark in the port. This museum documents how oil
was discovered off the coast of Norway in 1969, forever changing the country.
The oil industry's celebration of itself, this is a spectacularly dramatic museum,
rising as it does directly from the waters of the harbor. It resembles a space-age
jumble of tin cans, with hints of an offshore oil platform, and an avant-garde
modern combination of stainless steel, granite, and glass. The best parts of the
museum are those that convey the huge shock and drama associated with Nor-
way's entrance into the oil industry, which had otherwise been dominated by
Arabs and Americans, and Norway's struggle to bone up on the legalities and
international agreements.
The museum is not particularly adept at explaining the technicalities of the
drilling rituals, and there's something superficial about the science associated
with the construction of oil platforms, even though you can wander through a
replica of an oil platform that's attached to the main bulk of the museum.
One of the city's finest restaurants, Bølgen & Moi (p. 241), is within the prem-
ises of this museum, which “guards” the entrance to Stavanger's harbor in the way
that Sydney's Opera House “guards” the entrance to the harbor to that city.
Kjeringholmen. & 51-93-93-00. Admission 75NOK ($11) adults, 35NOK ($4.95) children, students, and sen-
iors. Daily 10am-7pm.
Rogaland Kunstmuseum This is Stavanger's museum of fine arts, both
showing temporary exhibitions as well as maintaining an impressive treasure
trove of art. The collection consists of some 2,000 paintings, drawings, and
sculptures. Most of these are by Norwegian artists from the beginning of the
19th century to the present. Donated to the museum, the Halvdan Haftsten
Collection includes some 200 paintings and drawings created by eight Nor-
wegian artists between the two world wars. The museum displays the largest and
most impressive collection of the works of Lars Hertervig (1830-1902), one
of the greatest romantic painters of Norwegian landscapes, along with an
impressive array of the works of Kitty Kielland. The location 3km (1 3 ⁄ 4 miles)
from the city center is at the northern end of the Old Town close to Mos Lake
(Mosvannet), off E18.

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