We open the door to Norrbotten's history, both the known and the undiscovered.
Norrbotten's museum cherishes and protects the multicultural way of life and traditions that shaped us and our place in the world.
With knowledge and creativity, we bring to life the stories that enrich and touch – for curious explorers, history buffs, those who want to get to know the region and those who have lived here for generations.
We invite you to explore Norrbotten with us, now and for the future.
The museum's areas of activity include archaeology, archives, buildings, libraries, image archives, ethnology, photography and collections of objects.
We work with documentation, care and registration of collections, knowledge transfer and advice, research, digitization, museum pedagogy, and exhibition and program activities.
In 1878, collection of objects started in Norrbotten. In the beginning, they were stored at the home of company manager JA Wikström in Luleå.
On September 20, 1886, the Norrbotten Museum Association was formed with members from the residence city's upper bourgeoisie. The association's predominant issues were the finances, the premises and the object collections. The local issue was complicated by the Luleå city fire in 1887, when large parts of the center were destroyed.
In 1901, rooms were furnished in the county board's building for the museum association's collections, which had previously been exhibited in the educational institution.
On the initiative of the writer David Törnqvist and the county councilwoman Anna Gustafsson, the association began in the 1910s to discuss the formation of an open-air museum at Gültzauudden. The idea was realized in the early 1920s. In 1922, the association was reorganized into the Norrbotten county homestead association.
In the 1920s, the home village association employed Einar Möller as a caretaker. He remained in service until the 1960s. Bertil Waldén became the first professionally trained museum curator in 1926.
Plans for a separate museum building emerged. The financing was resolved, and the then Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf was able to inaugurate the current museum building at Storgatan 21 in Luleå on 1936 July 2. The building was designed by architect Eberhard Lovén.
During the Second World War the business declined. Parts of the museum building were used by the county board's crisis agency and national antiquarian Reinhold Odencrants was periodically mobilized. It was not until 1950 that the county museum was able to reclaim the entire museum building again.
The staff until 1956 consisted of a country antiquarian, a caretaker and temporary amenuenses and a cleaning lady.
In 1961-1972, Harald Hvarfner was national antiquarian and under his leadership the museum developed rapidly. Fieldwork and book publishing complemented the exhibitions that toured the entire county. The museum was organized in 1964 into three departments. In 1966, the museum had 15 employees.
The museum's logo began to be used in 1972. The shape is a copy of an iron stamp from Törefors mill.
The Open Air Museum at Gültzauudden was moved around 1970 to Gammelstad and became the Open Air Museum Hägnan.
In 1967, the home village association changed its name to Föreningen Norrbotten museum. In 1977, the museum was transformed into a foundation with two principals; Luleå Municipality and Norrbotten County Council. The old association was split into two parts. The county museum itself was transferred to the new foundation, while the association for homeland stakeholders gathered in Norrbotten's homeland association and in the early 1980s the association changed its name to Norrbotten's homeland association.
On July 1, 1976, cultural heritage preservation in Sweden was reorganized. At the county administrations, county antiquaries were established, which took over the executive part of the county antiquaries.
The foundation was reorganized in April 1992. The county council completely took over the operations of Norrbotten's museum, while Luleå municipality took over responsibility for the Open Air Museum Hägnan in Gammelstad.
On October 1, 1999, the Norrbotten Museum Foundation became a base unit within Norrbotten County Council and today the workforce consists of around fifty employees. Activities are conducted not only in Luleå but in the entire county, with, for example, investigations and documentation, cultural projects and exhibition production, as well as a children's and youth activity.
On 1 January 2017, the county council changed its name to Region Norrbotten. The Norrbotten Museum is part of Region Norrbotten, the regional development department as a base unit within culture.
Norrbotten Region is the principal authority for Norrbotten Museum. The museum is part of the Department for Regional Development, Culture.
We are currently looking for a museum educator for Norrbotten Museum in Luleå.
Norrbotten Museum is the county museum for Sweden's largest county in terms of area, which places special demands on the museum's working methods, and digitization is an important tool for making cultural heritage and history accessible. The museum has just received funding for the project Diginord which will develop a knowledge and learning platform for primary schools in the county. Within the project, we are now looking for a qualified teacher with an interest in history and experience of working in primary schools.
We are looking for a qualified teacher with experience working in primary school. You should also have a B driving license and good knowledge of the Office package. We see it as an advantage if you have knowledge of a Sami variety or one of the national minority languages. Several years of experience as a teacher is also seen as an advantage.
We place great importance on your personal qualities. As a person, we see that you have good collaboration skills while being independent, you take responsibility for your task and drive your processes forward. You are also structured and can plan, organize and prioritize your work in an effective manner. We also see that you have pedagogical insight where you have a good understanding that people have different conditions and absorb knowledge in different ways.
Your duties will consist of the operational work within the project. You are one of three museum educators employed within the project. Diginord, the other two are employed at the Silver Museum and Ájtte respectively. Together with them, you will be responsible for anchoring the project in the curriculum, developing templates, participating in the work with the digital platform, having contact and dialogue with a reference class in Luleå Municipality's primary school, and developing educational content for the platform, including writing overall texts for themes in the curriculum, articles and teacher guides/lesson suggestions.
We offer you a full-time, fixed-term employment during the period 2026-02-02 through 2026-10-02, with the possibility of extension if additional funding is obtained. The working hours are scheduled for daytime, Monday-Friday, between 8:00 and 17:00. The workplace is located in Luleå.
The application deadline is December 31, 2025.
Entry into force 2026-02-02 or by agreement. Selection and interviews take place on an ongoing basis and the position may be filled before the application deadline.
Norrbotten Region applies individual salary setting according to collective agreements.
Welcome with your application!
We work to have employees with knowledge of Sweden's national minority languages and therefore value your knowledge of Sami, Meänkieli, Finnish, Romani Chib and Yiddish. We actively work for an even gender distribution and see diversity as a strength. We welcome employees with different backgrounds and work to ensure that our workplace is accessible to everyone.
Here we have gathered information for you who work as a journalist or in the media.
The links open as PDF files.
The Norrbotten Museum's logo is available in landscape and portrait format. Choose the option that provides the best visibility where it will be used. The logo may not be cropped or otherwise altered.
The Norrbotten Museum logo may only be used in contexts where the museum is the sender or collaborating party.
Right click on the link you want and select "save link as" to download the logo you want.