Hanseatic Museum and Schøtstuene

The Hanseatic Museum and Schøtstuene is a house museum on Bryggen in Bergen, in Vestland county, Norway, devoted to the German merchants who controlled the stockfish trade from the city between about 1360 and 1754. The main building dates from about 1704, rebuilt after the 1702 fire, and is furnished to show how a merchant's household and business worked in the 18th century. Displays include the merchant's office with ledgers and scales, his bedroom, the narrow sleeping cupboards of apprentices and journeymen, and the storerooms for dried cod, with original tools and furniture. The approach is immersive rather than gallery-based, since the building itself is the main exhibit and is preserved with its timber fabric largely intact. Open fires were forbidden in the wooden trading houses, so the merchants gathered in the separate stone-walled Schøtstuene assembly rooms on Øvregaten, which are included in the museum, for meals, meetings and winter lessons. Together the two sites give a thematic picture of discipline, hierarchy and trade in the Hanseatic Kontor. The buildings are part of the UNESCO-listed Bryggen area and are conserved by traditional methods. English-language guided tours operate during the main season, and the Bergen Card covers entry. A visit complements the Bryggens Museum, which shows the archaeology of the earlier medieval town.