- Address: Bygdoynesveien, 36, Oslo, Norway
- Phone: +47 23 08 67 67
- Website: www.kon-tiki.no
- Year of foundation: 1950.
- Founder: Tour Heyerdahl, Knut Haugland
Kon-Tiki is a museum located in the Norwegian capital, Oslo . Exhibitions on the sea travel of Tour Heyerdahl are of considerable interest to tourists from all over the world. Since the opening of the museum, it has already been visited by more than 15 million people.
From the life of the founder
Tour Heyerdahl (1914-2002) is a well-known Norwegian traveler who organized such expeditions as:
- Kon-Tiki is a tour that began in 1947. His goal was to prove the theory that the first people on the Polynesian Islands came from South America, and not from Asia. For the journey a special raft was built, which gave the name of the expedition, - Kon-Tiki, on which the explorers set off. The whole tour took 101 days, in total sailors sailed 8 thousand km, thus proving their theory.
- Ra - a trip from Africa to the coast of America on a boat made of papyrus, organized in 1969. In the voyage our compatriot-traveler and TV host Yury Senkevich also took part. Unfortunately, due to inaccurate boat construction, the journey ended unsuccessfully - the ship sank off the coast of Egypt.
- Ra-2 is the second attempt to get to America from Africa. The tour was organized in 1970. The design of the boat was refined (it became 3 m shorter than its predecessor). The journey was successful and lasted 57 days;
- Tigris - journey on a reed boat, lasted from November 1977 to April 1978. The purpose of the expedition was to prove that the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia had connections with other peoples not only by land, but also by sea.
Expositions of the museum are devoted to these expeditions.
General information
The private museum of Kon-Tiki was founded in 1949 and opened for visitors in 1950. Kon-Tiki is located on the museum peninsula of Bugde, where, in addition to it, there are other museums, in particular, Fram and Viking ships . The founders of the museum are Tour Heyerdahl, whose travels are devoted to exhibitions, and Knut Haugland is a member of the expeditions, who became the director of this museum and held this post for 40 years.
The exposition of the museum is arranged as follows:
- The first halls are exhibits from the travels of Ra and Ra-2. The exposition is small, but very informative - the boat itself and all objects are originals;
- The next hall is the exhibition of Kon-Tiki. Raft, objects of use (camera, telescope, guitar and ship's log) are also those used by travelers.
- caves of Easter Island - in this room in almost complete darkness you can look at the rock paintings and even be afraid of your own whisper, the atmosphere is so vividly conveyed;
- room for video presentations - daily at 12:00 here they show a documentary about the life and travel of Tour Heyerdahl;
- Hall of the underwater world - a separate room dedicated to the inhabitants of the sea. The hall is a scene from a documentary film where various fish, including a whale shark, floated alongside a raft of travelers.
How to get there and when to visit?
As mentioned above, the Kon-Tiki Museum is located on a peninsula, to which you can reach Oslo in several ways:
- by bus number 30;
- ferry - the schedule can be viewed at the station and in the museum itself;
- by taxi or a rented car .
The museum accepts visitors daily:
- from November to February from 10:00 to 16:00,
- from July to August from 9:30 to 18:00,
- from March to May and from September to October from 10:00 to 17:00.
The days off at the museum are as follows: 25 and 31 December, 1 January, 17 May.
The entrance to the museum is paid and is about 1 $ 2 for adults, about $ 5 for children from 6 to 15 years, the owners of Oslo Pass cards are free. There is also a ticket for the whole family (2 adults and a child up to 15 years old), its price is just under $ 19.