bergen city museum the museums
| the leprosy museumThe Norwegian history of leprosy is part of the worldwide history of an illness that on account of its heavy stigma resulted in the exclusion and humiliation of millions of people. Between 1850 and 1900 Bergen was an international capital of leprosy, with three leprosy hospitals and the largest concentration of patients in Europe.
The city’s oldest leprosy hospital, St. George’s Hospital, is now not only a monument to thousands of personal tragedies, it is also an important arena for the dissemination of Norwegian work and research on leprosy. In many parts of the world leprosy is commonly known as Hansen’s disease, named after the Norwegian physician Armauer Hansen who discovered the leprosy bacillus in Bergen in 1873. The last patient at St. George’s Hospital died in 1946.
The leprosy archives in Bergen are part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme.
In the old hospital for leprosy patients, Norway's famous history of leprosy is disseminated.
St. George's is proably Northern Europe's best preserved leprosy hospital.
G. H. Armauer Hansen (1841-1912), the discoverer of the leprosy bacillus.
| Telephone: | 55 96 11 55 |
| Address: | Kong Oscars gate 59 Postboks 4052 5835 Bergen |
| lepramuseet@bymuseet.no | |
| Sun: | 1100 - 1500 |
| daily: | 1100 - 1500 |
Adults NOK 50
Students NOK 25
Children free
Half price when visiting other Bergen City Museum arenas.
Groups by arrangement all year round.
