Ringve Museum

Ringve Museum in Trondheim is Norway's national museum of music and musical instruments. It occupies a historic estate on the Lade peninsula in the north-east of the city, and combines collections from around the world with a large park and botanical garden.

What is Ringve Museum?

It is the country's leading institution for the history of music and instrument making. The collection spans many cultures and eras, from folk instruments to salon and concert pieces. Depending on the source, it holds roughly 1,500 to more than 2,000 instruments. The museum also keeps a vast sheet music archive (over 25,000 prints), a photograph collection and a sound archive with pianola rolls, polyphon discs and phonograph cylinders.

How did the museum come about?

Ringve was one of the old manors on the Lade peninsula. The first house on the site dates to 1521, while the present group of buildings goes back to the 1740s. The estate is tied to the childhood of Peter Wessel Tordenskjold, the famed Norwegian naval hero, whose father, Councillor Jan Wessel, owned the property. In 1919 Christian Anker Bachke bought the estate. His wife, the Russian-born émigré artist Victoria Bachke, built up a private instrument collection that became the foundation of the museum, which opened to the public in 1952.

What to see on site

A visit has two main parts. The exhibition in the former barn is open all year. The historic manor house is explored on guided tours in the summer season, so check current opening times before you go. Guides often demonstrate instruments, which makes the visit as much about listening as looking at display cases.

Ringve Botanical Garden

Next to the museum lies a botanical garden of about 13 hectares, established by the university in 1973. It is run by NTNU's university museum, and its living plant collections serve research, education and the conservation of endangered species. Highlights include an arboretum of forest trees and shrubs from the Northern Hemisphere, a systematic garden showing the evolutionary lines of flowering plants, and the Historic Park, a 19th-century landscape garden. The garden is free and open at all times.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ringve Museum a national museum? Yes, it is regarded as Norway's national museum for music and musical instruments.

When did the museum open? It opened to the public in 1952, built on Victoria Bachke's private collection.

Can I visit the manor house without a guide? The manor house is open through guided tours in the summer season. The barn exhibition is open year-round.

Is the botanical garden free? Yes, the garden is free and always open.

Who is it best suited for? Music lovers, families, history fans and anyone who enjoys a walk among greenery. The mix of instruments, historic architecture and gardens easily fills several hours, even when Trondheim's weather is unpredictable.