This year's grants for medieval wooden buildings and grants for ruins have been awarded by the National Heritage Board.
- Norway is the country in Europe with the most preserved wooden houses from the Middle Ages. Norway has a great responsibility to keep them in good condition. The grants that are now being awarded will help ensure that future generations can also experience these important traces of Norwegian history. The grants cover as much as 90 percent of the maintenance needs," says Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, Minister of Climate and Environment.
A wetter and warmer climate creates problems for old wooden houses through both extreme weather and increased moisture and rot. It is therefore important to ensure tight roofs and repairs using traditional materials and good craftsmanship.
Norway has just over 250 timber-framed houses from the Middle Ages, and in a European context it is quite special that we have so many preserved buildings from before the 16th century. Six counties have applied for funding: Oslo, Agder, Buskerud, Innlandet, Møre og Romsdal, Telemark and Vestfold. These are the counties with the most medieval buildings.
For the medieval buildings, the county councils have received applications for NOK 6.7 million, while the framework for grants is NOK 6 million. The county councils are applying for restoration, pre-projects and sampling of timber for the dating of buildings, so-called dendrochronological dating.
- We think it's exciting that several counties, such as Møre og Romsdal, Telemark and Innlandet, have applied for funding for the dating of buildings," says Hanna Geiran, Director of National Heritage. "The timber can provide us with important information about both our common history and about individual buildings, which is why we support this with grant funding.
In collaboration with several counties, the National Heritage Board a separate guide for dating timber in the fall of 2023.
Ruins are remnants of magnificent buildings
Ruins are often the remains of magnificent medieval buildings: Monasteries, castles and churches, and the grants are used to conserve and preserve the ruins against wear and tear, weather and wind and to secure the necessary knowledge to preserve the ruin for posterity.
The county councils received applications for almost NOK 25 million. The framework for grants in 2024 is NOK 12 million, as well as NOK 3 million in commitments for 2025 for multi-year projects. In the allocation, the Directorate for Cultural Heritage prioritizes giving grants so that ruin conservation projects can be completed.
- "In practice, all ruin measures are climate-related, because preservation, adaptation and mapping of ruins underground are all about either limiting the climate impact or preventing it for the future," says Hanna Geiran, Minister for Cultural Heritage.
In the years to come, the National Heritage Board sees that there is a great need in several places.
The Oslo City Heritage Board and Rogaland County Council have submitted the most comprehensive applications. Oslo is at the start of major restoration work on the monastery ruins on Hovedøya. The work began in 2023 and is expected to last for many years. In Rogaland, the conservation of the royal farm ruins at Avaldsnes is in its final phase, and the county council is now preparing several measures to communicate and facilitate the facility. This is important, both to protect the ruin and to keep the public safe.
Allocation to medieval buildings
| Organization | Applications | Application sum to the county authorities | Subsidies |
| Agder | 3 | 1 350 000 | 1 300 000 |
| Akershus | 0 | ||
| Buskerud | 5 | 1 442 098 | 1 350 000 |
| Finnmark | 0 | ||
| Inland | 3 | 972 000 | 900 000 |
| Møre and Romsdal | 0 | – | 25 000 |
| Nordland | 0 | ||
| Oslo | 0 | ||
| Rogaland | 0 | ||
| Sami Parliament | 0 | ||
| Telemark | 2 | 293 750 | 470 000 |
| Troms | 0 | ||
| Trøndelag | 0 | ||
| Vestfold | 0 | ||
| Western Norway | 1 | 2 700 000 | 1 955 000 |
| Østfold | 0 | ||
| Collected | 14 | kr 6,757,848 | kr 6 000 000 |
Allocation to ruins
| Organization | Applications | Application amount | Grant 2024, commitment 2025 |
| Agder | 0 | – | 0 |
| Akershus | 1 | 50 000 | 50 000 |
| Buskerud | 0 | ||
| Finnmark | 0 | ||
| Inland | 2 | 2 960 000 | 2 000 000 |
| Møre and Romsdal | 2 | 297 000 | 290 000 |
| Nordland | 0 | ||
| Oslo | 1 | 5 912 500 | 3 400 000 |
| Rogaland | 1 | 5 912 375 | 2 700 000 |
| Sami Parliament | 0 | ||
| Telemark | 1 | 2 762 500 | 1 830 000 |
| Troms | 0 | ||
| Trøndelag | 4 | 1 995 600 | 1 230 000 |
| Vestfold | 0 | ||
| Western Norway | 3 | 4 880 000 | 3 300 000 |
| Østfold | 1 | 200 000 | 200 000 |
| Collected | 16 | kr 24,969,975 | kr 15 000 000 |
