Description of the attraction
The Norwegian Olympic Museum was officially opened in 1997 in Lillehammer. It is the only museum of its kind in the whole of Northern Europe. Here is the complete history of the Olympic Games from 776 BC. up to the present day. The permanent exhibition, divided into three sections, has over 7,000 exhibits.
The Historic Hall is dedicated to the Olympic Games that took place in Greece at the sacred site of Olympia, as evidenced by ancient written sources. In 393 BC, after the adoption of Christianity by Greece, games were banned, and Olympia lost its importance in the life of the local population, and eventually disappeared altogether as a result of natural disasters. Only after a millennium and a half, in 1884, the French Baron Pierre de Coubertin began to realize his dream of continuing the Olympic Games. The first modern summer games were held in 1896 in Athens, and the winter games in Chamonix in 1924.
The Olympic Hall presents an extensive collection of coins, medals and stamps, as well as photographs of the best athletes in Norway.
A separate hall of the museum is dedicated to the 17th Olympic Games, which were held in Lillehammer in 1994. 67 countries took part in them. The exposition immerses visitors in the magical atmosphere of those games.
