Things to do
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Lillehammer Kunstmuseum
A serious collection of Norwegian painting from the early nineteenth century onwards, in a building by Snohetta with a sculpture garden by Bard Breivik between its wings. It holds work by Munch, Dahl and the national romantics in one run.
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Maihaugen
The largest open air museum in northern Europe, some 200 buildings gathered from the Gudbrandsdalen valley by a travelling dentist from 1887 onwards, around the Garmo stave church of about 1200. Summer brings costumed farms in working order; in winter the indoor galleries and the reconstructed twentieth century houses carry it.
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Aulestad
The farm at Gausdal where Bjornstjerne Bjornson wrote the words of the national anthem and took the Nobel Prize in 1903, kept with his furniture and library in place. It opens in summer only. The garden and the drive up from Lillehammer are part of the visit.
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Bjerkebæk
Sigrid Undset's home, two relocated timber farmhouses in a walled garden where she wrote the novels that took the Nobel Prize in 1928. The house was opened to the public in 2007 and is kept much as she had it. Entry is by guided tour through the main season.
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Hafjell
The Olympic alpine hill fifteen kilometres north, with around forty pistes in winter and one of the larger bike parks in the country from June to September. The lifts run in both seasons and it is reached by bus from the town.
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Hunderfossen Eventyrpark
A family park built around Norwegian folklore north of the town, with a fourteen metre troll at the gate and the Olympic bobsleigh track next door, which runs wheeled sleds in summer. The season is short and it is closed for most of the year.
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Lysgårdsbakkene
The ski jumps built for the 1994 Winter Olympics, where the opening ceremony was held, with a chairlift and a stair to the top of the large hill. The view runs the length of the lake and there is a zip line down the outrun in summer.
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Mølla Hotell
A grain mill of 1863 on the stream in the middle of town, converted with the machinery left in place and a bar in the old silo at the top. The rooms are small and the view from the silo is the best in the centre.
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Norges Olympiske Museum
The only museum in northern Europe covering the whole Olympic movement from 1896, alongside the story of the 1994 games that this town ran. It shares the Hakons Hall complex, so it pairs with the jumps in one afternoon. The winter and summer sections are laid out separately inside.
