Kode Art Museums and Composer Homes

Kode Art Museums and Composer Homes is one of the largest institutions in the Nordic countries dedicated to art, craft, design and music. Located in and around the city of Bergen, Kode includes a unique combination of four museums in the city center and the former homes of composers Ole Bull, Harald Sæverud and Edvard Grieg. With a history that began in 1825, when the President of the Storting Wilhelm F. K. Christie founded the Bergens Museum, Kode today holds a collection of nearly 50,000 objects. These range from paintings and installations to musical instruments, furniture and works of fine craft and design, spanning antiquity to the present day. The four museums host temporary exhibitions of art and design as well as extensive presentations of works by Edvard Munch, J.C. Dahl and Nikolai Astrup. Kode is home to the world’s third-largest Munch collection, as well as significant holdings of Norwegian and international contemporary art and the largest national collection of Chinese art. The composers’ homes offer historic glimpses into their lives, displaying treasures such as Bull’s violins, Grieg’s grand piano and Sæverud’s study. Beyond its permanent and temporary displays, the museums stage over 400 concerts annually and offer 900 acres of parkland and nature trails for visitors.

^{Photograph by Dag Fosse/Kode}