This fantastical new museum in northern Norway will explore whales through science, art and sound

Museums are often key parts of any curious traveller’s itinerary, especially when cultural city breaks and road trips are favoured over the sun-drenched fly-and-flop. We’re incredibly lucky as Brits, in fact, that the museums littered across our cities are a major reason for the millions of tourists we see visiting the country every year.

So, when a new cultural hub is announced in a unique destination, we pay attention.

The latest such reveal, getting culture vultures and lovers of the natural world excited, is currently receiving the finishing touches in Andenes, Northern Norway.

The new museum will be full of immersive exhibits

RAA and Tamschick Media + Space

Scheduled to open its doors on 4 June 2027, The Whale is a new knowledge and experience centre exploring fascinating sea creatures through science, art, storytelling and sound.

The upcoming museum and experience began as an idea in 2014, when a group of local whale and tourism enthusiasts came together to explore the possibility of creating a new whale attraction. An international architectural competition followed in 2019, with Danish architecture studio Dorte Mandrup emerging as the winning entrant. In the years that followed, the contractor HENT was appointed, and experiential designers Ralph Appelbaum Associates and Tamschick Media + Space were enlisted to develop the exhibition and its content.

The structure sits on a rocky outcrop beside the wild Norwegian coast

The Whale. Dorte Mandrup A/S. Renderings by MIR.