KODE Art Museums and Composer Homes
Four linked art museums beside Lille Lungegardsvann lake, plus three composer homes outside Bergen.
KODE is the collective name for four art museums standing along Rasmus Meyers alle and Nordahl Bruns gate in central Bergen, together with three composer homes in the surrounding district. The institution traces its roots to the Bergen Art Association, founded in 1838, and to the West Norway Museum of Decorative Art, whose Permanenten building of 1896 is the oldest of the four. The museums were brought under the single KODE identity in 2013, and one ticket admits visitors to all four buildings.
The holdings span old master and Norwegian painting, decorative art, silver, design and contemporary work. Rasmus Meyer's collection, bequeathed to the city in 1916 and housed in a purpose-built gallery of 1924, contains one of the largest groups of Edvard Munch paintings outside Oslo, alongside works by J.C. Dahl and Harriet Backer. Lysverket, the former electricity company headquarters of 1938, and the Stenersen building of 1978 carry changing exhibitions. The composer homes are Troldhaugen, Siljustol and Lysoen.
Highlights
- One of the largest Edvard Munch collections outside Oslo, at Rasmus Meyer
- Permanenten, an 1896 decorative art building by Henry Bucher
- Single ticket covering all four city-centre museum buildings
- Edvard Grieg's villa at Troldhaugen is part of the same institution
