Norwegian Fishing Industry Museum

There are few more remote industrial heritage sites than the Norwegian fishing industry museum at Melbu on the island of Hadseløya, 236 km west of Narvik. Christian Fredriksen (1865-1929), who made a fortune from textile manufacturing, soap and margarine making and steamships, established the community around his enterprises in Melbu from circa 1890. A large fish-processing plant continues to operate on the island. The museum, opened in 1991, and is located in the substantial buildings of the former Neptun Sildoljefabrik Vesterålen (Neptune Herring oil factory) built in 1910 on Melbu’s outer breakwater. The factory complex is dominated by towering green- and mustard-coloured tanks, which are seen against a background of snow-covered mountains. One of the tanks has been adapted as the ‘Royal Neptune Hall’ for concerts and theatrical performances, and the museum regularly stages temporary exhibitions from elsewhere in Norway, film shows and multi-media presentations. It is part of a larger project for museums in Nordland and has links with museums across the frontier in north-west Russia.