You can visit the Visit Hammerfest site with information on things to do in the city including tours, places to eat and drink, sights to see and places to stay. Where can I find more information on things to do in Hammerfest? All in all, pre-war Finnmark was not only multi-ethnic but the people’s livelihoods spanned the entire spectrum from ancient barter economy to modern industrial society. The new industrial town of Kirkenes represented modernity. The “better” parts of Hammerfest and Vardø featured the colourful, painted wooden architecture of the Norwegian inhabitants. Others lived in Finnish-style log cabins or in log houses prefabricated on the shores of the White Sea in Russia and sold as building kits to the fishing villages along the coast. Some were still living in turf huts under the same roof as their livestock. The Museum of Reconstruction tells the story of the forced evacuation, cave-dwellers and post-war reconstruction, and you may find yourself shedding a tear along the way.īefore World War II, the regions of Finnmark and Nord-Troms were inhabited by three different, distinct ethnic groups: the Sami, the Finns (Kvæn) and the Norwegians.
Robbed of their visible history, after the war the people of Finnmark built a new, modern society with new ideals. Seventy five thousand people were forcibly evacuated from Finnmark and Northern Troms in 1944-45, 25 000 of whom fled to the mountains.