Hardangervidda Nature Centre Eidfjord was founded in 1995. In the spring of 2018, the Centre changed its contents and its name to Norwegian Nature Centre Hardanger. The Centre is an exciting experience centre for Norwegian nature, climate and environment, and an authorised visitor’s centre for Hardangervidda National Park. In the spring of 2018, new exhibitions were opened in Norwegian Nature Centre Hardanger, with modern design and innovative teaching technologies. Our exhibitions are developed by Sarner International Ltd in London, working closely with Norwegian researchers within the fields being presented in the exhibitions. With innovative teaching technologies that are entertaining for the whole family, our goal is to make a visit to Norwegian Nature Centre Hardanger an exciting, fun, educational and unique experience for all ages!

The new exhibitions establish Norwegian Nature Centre as a state-of-the-art experience and teaching centre for natural and cultural history with a unique offering to complement what you can find in other visitor centres and in the outdoors. The Centre screens the spectacular panoramic film “Fjord Mountain Waterfall”, directed by Ivo Caprino, and has three floors of exciting, life-affirming and powerful adventures with interactive stations, rocks and minerals, fossils, models, aquariums, theme videos and illustrations. The whole exhibition across the three floors is constructed like a travel through time from 2.9 billion years ago up until today.

The exhibitions are presented in three main languages—Norwegian, English and German—and additionally 10 other languages (indicated by a flag icon) on fixed tablet computers by the installations. In our new exhibitions in Norwegian Nature Centre, visitors will experience geology and landscapes in new and exciting ways, get closer to wildlife, nature, weather and climate, and explore the interaction between nature, people, culture and the environment in ways not previously presented in any other similar visitor centre in Norway!

By watching, touching, listening and learning, you become an active and creative part of the exhibition. The contents of the exhibition are designed to increase knowledge about nature, which can inspire and prompt us to protect the important values in nature and the environment around us. With innovative teaching technologies that are entertaining for the whole family, our goal is to make a visit to Norwegian Nature Centre an exciting, fun, educational and unique experience for all ages!

Our very own cinema shows the interplay of art and nature. For more than 250 years, Norwegian landscapes have been an inspiration for many artists. The beautiful formations of fjords, mountains and waterfalls throughout the country have been expressed in painting, print and other media. Art history professor Gunnar Danbolt shows us the connections and the story of man’s understanding of nature through the art of painting.

In one area you can explore rocks and minerals that have played a crucial role in the formation of the rocks we have in Norway. Multiple trout aquariums explain the life cycle of the trout living in mountain lakes. The history will also be linked back to about 400-million-year-old fish fossils. Visitors will hear explanations of how glaciers were formed and how the fjords, including The Hardanger Fjord, were shaped over 40–50 ice ages during the last 2.6 million years. You can see what the first reindeer hunter on Hardangervidda might have looked like right after the end of the last ice age, about 9000 years ago. The living landscape will be presented – concerning the humans that first settled in Norway and how they utilised the resources from fjords to mountains through farming, hunting and fishing to survive in this landscape throughout the seasons. There will be a captivating presentation of the contrast between past and present , as well as current outdoor activities and how modern Norwegians use the landscape. You can see examples of the most spectacular outdoor activities in a big format, along with films that present Arne Nævra’s splendid films about animals and birds.