Theta museum Bergen

Theta Museum, Bergen - A really tiny, one-room museum in the old Bryggen Hanseatic quarter in the heart of Bergen , Norway , this could well be one of the contenders for the title world's smallest museum. Its main exhibit is the room itself that houses the museum – for this reason it is also known under the epithet "Theta Room " (rather than "museum"). It was the secret HQ of a local branch of the Norwegian Resistance during the German occupation in WWII . It was in fact so well hidden that it was only discovered by accident by the Germans, who promptly destroyed it, in 1942. The present room is therefore only a reconstruction. This resistance cell, which called itself the Theta Group (hence the museum's name), primarily had the aim of maintaining communications, including with the Norwegian government in exile in Great Britain . Accordingly, the old radio equipment is the main thing to see in this miniature museum, together with photos, maps and a machine gun on the wall … For more substantial commodification of the topic go to the Resistance Museum in the nearby Bergen Fortress complex. Fitting for a such a formerly clandestine operations room, the museum is supposedly still tricky to locate – though I had no problems finding it at all in actual fact. However, when I did, I found it closed. My arrival in Bergen had been delayed somewhat so I narrowly missed the extremely restricted opening times of this museum that day. The next few days it didn't open at all. So I couldn't see it properly. Shame. But at least I got a glimpse of it from the outside. Opening times: Tuesdays and Saturdays/Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m. only! And that only seasonally, between mid May and mid September. Admission: 30 NOK (children 10 NOK). Location: deep in the warren of alleys and passageways in the cluster of timber buildings that is the Bryggen in Bergen .