From idea in 1992 to opening in 2025: The Feskarbondefjøsen gets new life in Bodøsjøen
Sunday, August 31, 2025 was the official opening of Bodøsjøen open-air museum's new fishing farm, complete with the over 100-year-old "Alsgårdsfjøsen" - a project led by the Agricultural Pensioners' Association, in close collaboration with Bodøsjøen network and the Nordlandsmuseet.
Photo: Agricultural Pensioners
An idea that matured for 29 years
The idea of a sheep barn in Bodøsjøen was first launched in 1992 by Hjalmar Berg, founder of the Association of Agricultural Pensioners. It would be almost three decades before the project gained momentum. In 2021, the agreement to take over the barn came. In the summer of 2022, five volunteers went to Onøya to dismantle the building, which was transported by truck to Bodøsjøen The timber box was restored in Valnesfjord in the spring of 2023, before reconstruction and foundation work began that same summer.
With 2,600 volunteer hours, support from Samfunnsløftet, local contributions and the Nordlandsmuseet, the barn has been given new life. And it will be filled with what it was built for: life and activity.
Photo: Agricultural Pensioners
– This is more than just a building. It is a living learning center for old craft traditions, sustainable operations and our coastal culture, says the project manager for the Agricultural Pensioners.
Belonging, unity, identity and pride
Knowledge of our cultural heritage is important for creating belonging, unity, identity and pride in our background. Bodøsjøen The network has discussed measures and activities in several rounds to strengthen the museum's communication of the combined activities of fishing, farming, harvesting and hunting. How can we communicate the subsistence economy of the past to today's generation in an engaging way?
The barn has been a missing piece in the museum's presentation of the fish farming culture - a way of life that was the mainstay of coastal communities for over a thousand years. With the yard, which now includes a barn, a Nordland house, a storehouse and a stable, the public can experience both the work of the fish farmer and the fish farmer's wife on land.
Photo: Agricultural Pensioners
Sponsors of the Feskarbondefjøsen: Nordlandsmuseet, Sparebanken Nord-Norge (sammunnsløftet), Nordland agricultural company, UNI Foundation