Hello and welcome to The Whale Bone Blog!

This blog will follow the progress of a team of people who, over the next two years will conserve and restore the eight largest whale skeletons in Bergen Museum's historic Whale Hall.

The restoration of the whale skeletons is part of the exciting Museum Project 2014 currently being undertaken by The University of Bergen, Norway.

We hope that you will enjoy following our progress as we work to restore this beautiful and unique skeletal collection for future generations of visitors and scientists।


Bergen Natural History Musuem where the whale skeletons are housed.


Whale skeletons hanging in the historic whale hall.


The Whale Bone Project

All eight of the large whale skeletons hanging in Bergen Museum's Whale Hall have been there for over 100 years and over this time have collected a huge amount of dust and dirt. In addition whale skeletons contain a lot of oil and this comes to the surface of the bones forming a greasy layer which the dust and dirt gets well and truly stuck to. There are also 100 years of paint splashes, old repairs and of course, disintegration of the skeletons to contend with. All in all the skeletons are in need of some serious care and attention to clean, repair and stabilise them and this must all be achieved with methods that do not harm the old and often delicate bone. The reason for conserving these skeletons is not simply so that they look better but it is to prevent the continued disintegration of the bone and halt the damage the dirt is causing so that the skeletons stay intact and exhibited in the hall for years to come.

It's going to be a challenge but fortunately the team have a range of skills and experience to carry out this whale sized task!

The Whale Skeletons

The whale team will clean and restore the eight whale skeletons that are most in need of urgent conservation. The skeletons are all baleen whale species and are comprised of one Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), one Sei whale (Balaenoptera boreali), one Humpback whale (Megaptera novaenglia) two Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus), two Minke whales (Balaenoptera acustorostrata) and one Right whale (Eubalaena glacialis).
An illustration of a Minke whale - two skeletons of this species can be found in the whale hall collection.

The Blue whale is the largest skeleton in the Whale Hall at 24m long and it originally came to the museum from the Finnmark coast in 1879. The 13.2m long skeleton of the Sei whale and the skeleton of the Humpback whale which measures in at 13.5m long, were also collected off the Finnmark coast in 1879. The two Fin whale skeletons, the longest of which is 18.9m, were collected off Utsira in Rogaland in 1865. The two skeletons of Minke whales in the hall were collected off Skogsvåg on the island of Sotra, just by Bergen in 1860 and finally, the whale skeleton hanging in the main window of the Whale Hall is the 16m Right whale collected from Iceland in 891.


An illustration of a Right or Nordkapper whale, a skeleton of this species has been hanging in the main window of the whale hall for over 100 years.

A Short History of Bergen Museum and the Whale Hall

The Bergen Museum was founded in 1825 and forms part of the University of Bergen. it houses one of the largest collections of cultural and natural history objects in Norway. Today there are 22 complete mounted whale and dolphin skeletons and two whale skulls in The Natural History Museum's grand Whale Hall, representing a total of 18 species. This unique collection is of special scientific interest as it represents a diversity of species which are irreplaceable today. The skeletons have quite literally been the museum's public face for well over 100 years, as they hang in the Museum's large central window overlooking Museplass for everyone to see.

Most of the whale skeletons which today hang in the Whale Hall were probably in place right from the first year the museum was open. It is interesting to see the photos ca. 1895 which show the skeletons hanging from the ceiling in the Whale Hall and the exhibition is very similar to how it remains today.

The image above shows how the Whale Hall looks today ......and the image below shows it in 1895
The museum's early interest in whales can be found in both scientific and popular articles such as the Bergen Museum's Annual Yearbook Report and the Journal Nature (Guldberg and Nansen 1894; Grieg 1889, 1897, 1905).

By preserving the skeletons we are also preserving part of the museum's identity and history.