VAPPUS

VAPPUS is the official application, which guides you while you are walking in the outdoor Sámi museums and the main exhibitions in Karasjok, Kautokeino, Porsanger and Kokelv.

VAPPUS means pathfinder or guide in the Sámi language. The term is derived from oahpis meaning acquainted, the one who knows. The term VAPPUS comes from the time before the motorized vehicles, when reindeer and horses were used for transportation.

The guided tours include texts, pictures, maps, audio and video. You can learn about the Sámi history, traditions and local communities, vernacular architecture and traditional building techniques, ways of livelihood, handicrafts and arts, religion and spirituality, traditional knowledge production and cultural diversity from coastal areas to the inland.

What you need to do is just to download our application from App Store/Play, and you will be guided through the outdoor museums and our main exhibitions. You can choose English, Norwegian, Sámi, and Finnish language for guiding.

By the help of our VAPPUS, you will get a comprehensive knowledge about the local and overall Sámi heritage, and about the diversity of cultures in West-Finnmark and in all Sápmi. Sápmi is the land of the Sámi people across the borders of four national states, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Northwest Russia.

You can see the contemporary and old pictures, hear the Sámi language and listen to the traditional Sámi yoik. By visiting all our Sámi museums, you will learn that Sámi national costume and clothing have their recognizable features, which vary from one Sámi area to another. You will learn about the authentic Sámi culture and living traditions, presented from an indigenous Sámi perspective. You will see the diversity of the Sámi traditions from the costal line of the Arctic ocean to the forest and tundra areas in the inland.

Porsanger museum also displays the culture and history of the Kven people, the Finnic ethnic minority in northern Norway.

RiddoDuottarMuseat is a Museum Association, which includes four Sámi museums and a Sámi Art collection in West-Finnmark. The museums display Sámi arts, history, tradition and culture, and show knowledge production and cultural diversity from coastal areas to the inland.

The association of RiddoDuottarMuseat comprises of The Sámi Museum and Art Collection in Karasjok, The Sámi Rural Museum in Kautokeino, Porsanger Museum, and Kokelv Coastal Sámi Museum in Kvalsund municipality.

RiddoDuottarMuseat have over 9700 objects in their collections. This is the largest collection representing the Sámi cultural history in Norway. This unique collection represents means of livelihood, household, clothing, religion, duodji (crafts) and art originating throughout the whole Sápmi. The Sámi art collection in Karasjok is a museum storage comprising of about 2000 art pieces. In the future, when the Sámi Art Museum will be built, the visitors will enjoy the great collection of indigenous Sámi arts.

In the meanwhile, welcome to our outdoor museums and exhibitions with the help of our VAPPUS.