A millennium site () is a site selected by a Norwegian municipality or county municipality to mark the transition to the 2000s. In Norway it was decided that the counties and municipalities would choose one millennium site for each county and municipality.
County millennium sites The point of departure for the Ministry of Culture, which was behind the concept of the millennium sites, was that there should be a millennium site in each county, and that these should be designated by 2005. The millennium sites were also seen as connected with the centennial of the 1905 dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden.
The goal of the county millennium sites is to contribute to taking care of edifices, institutions, cultural environments, natural areas, and so on of great historical, cultural, and environmental value and marking them in a special way. The millennium sites were to have a national cultural and environmental significance that goes beyond the individual county. This goal was to say something about what makes a place a millennium site in the county, and why it was desired to give this place that status. The guidelines for selecting the county millennium sites were determined by the Ministry of Culture, and government support was provided for the millennium sites.
It was a condition for the county millennium sites that they should have some significance for the entire nation. For example, the royal seat of Avaldsnes in Rogaland county at the Nordvegen History Center marks Harald Fairhair's gathering of the smaller chiefdoms and petty kingdoms into one kingdom. The Eidsvoll 1814 Political Center in Eidsvoll Municipality in Akershus county marks democratic governance in the country. Sites such as Avaldsnes, Eidsvoll, and the Petter Dass Museum in Alstahaug Municipality are county millennium sites because they have significance beyond the local community and the county where they are located. People from all parts of the country recall details from historical times that create associations of something in common transcending the individual county when such places are mentioned.
The state emphasized two main measures in its goal for the millennium sites: conservation and marking. Conservation involves setting up buildings and cultural landscapes, making improvements, and making the site easily accessible to the public. The millennium sites should also be physically marked, such as with a plaque, sculpture, or building. Other marking methods could include activities and events.
List of county millennium sites County Millennium site Homepage Akershus Eidsvoll 1814, Eidsvoll Manor Center homepage Aust-Agder Næs ironworks Ironworks museum's homepahe Buskerud Veien Cultural Heritage Park Veien Cultural Heritage Park website Finnmark The town of Vardø Hedmark Cathedral Ruins in Hamar Hedmark Museum homepage Hordaland The Hardanger district Møre og Romsdal Art Nouveau Center Center homepage Nord-Trøndelag Norveg Coastal Culture and Industry Center Center homepage Nordland Petter Dass Museum in Alstahaug Oppland Dale-Gudbrand's farm in Hundorp Oslo Medieval Oslo Information page at the Medieval Oslo Association Østfold Fredriksten Fortress Millennium site homepage Rogaland The village of Avaldsnes Sogn og Fjordane Gulating Homepage Sør-Trøndelag Trøndelag Folk Museum Telemark Telemark Canal Homepage Troms Hålogaland Theater Homepage Vest-Agder Lindesnes Lighthouse Homepage Vestfold Midgard Historical Center and Borre Park Homepage
Municipal millennium sites At the municipal level, the millennium sites were to be a physical manifestation the turn of the millennium and were to be chosen through a local selection process. The place could be a busy square used for trade, a promenade along a river, a well-known bridge or ferry quay, a monumental space, or a quiet place off the beaten track.
In an information circular from the Ministry of Culture from May 1999, Minister Anne Enger wrote that "the millennium sites will be a meeting place for various user groups linked to a new or existing building, facility, square, cultural environment, nature area, and so on. The funds should preferably be used to establish a new 'location', possibly upgrading an existing one beyond its usual maintenance. For those municipalities that for various reasons do not find it appropriate to establish a special millennium site, the subsidy may be used to improve public spaces in the municipality."
Financial support amounting to NOK 119,500 was given to the municipalities by the organizing company Tusenårsskiftet-Norge 2000 AS. The organizing company was a fully state-owned company whose purpose was to prepare and carry out marking the new millennium and the centenary of the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905.Sjøtveit, Liv Margrete. 2013. Snøhettas ikon på Helgelandskysten. En prosessuell og arkitekturhistorisk analyse av Petter Dass-museet. Oslo: Institutt for filosofi, ide- og kunsthistorie og klassiske språk, pp. 25–26.
List of municipal millennium sites