About us

The museum is located about 800 metres (½ mile) north of the bridge across the Neiden River and the Skoltefossen Waterfall. The Skolt Saami Village, including the orthodox St. George’s Chapel from the 16^th century, is about 1.5 km/1 mile away. 

Ä’vv Skolt Saami Museum was officially opened on June 16^th 2017 is part of the foundation Teän da va´rjjel mu´zeisiida Tana and Varanger Museumsiida, together with Savio Museum, Varanger Sámi Museum and Deanu Museum. Äʹvv aims to contribute to the strengthening of Skolt Saami culture, language and identity, as well as to conveying knowledge about the Skolt Saami past and present.

«Ä´vv» is the Skolt Saami word for sun glitter, the bright, sparkling light that comes from the reflection of sunlight on water or snow. The Skolt Saami language is listed in UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. It is estimated that only about 300 people use it today, most of them live on the Finnish side. Skolt Saami got an official writing system in 1973. In our permanent exhibition, Saaʹmijânnam Skoltelandet, Skolt Saami is the main language.

There are two official «KORO» (Art in Public Spaces) works of art at the museum. «Language Memory» by Espen Sommer Eide and «Omasum» by Geir Tore Holm. «Language Memory» is an audio-visual archive where Skolt Saami words are read out, one by one. They words are «given» to the listener, who is then tasked by preserving them for the future. “Omasum” is the door handle on the main entrance to the museum, cast in brass and inspired by the form of the omasum (stomach) of the reindeer.

The history of the museum building:

In 1998 the Norwegian Saami Council decided that «Eastern Saami museum area/cultural centre” should be the Sámi thousand years place during the Millennium celebrations.

In the National Budget of 2002 funding was granted to realize the museum building. On behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Church announced Statsbygg an architect competition. This was won by the architect company Pir2 from Trondheim. The groundbreaking ceremony and the building start were in 2007. The building was finished in 2008 and transferred to Statsbygg in 2009. But there were many flaws and defects in the building.

In 2017 the museum could finally open, now under the name Ä´vv skoltesamisk museum. There were 700 people at the opening event.

The name change was done in April 2017 to make clear that the museum conveys the culture, language and history of the Skolt saami. This was necessary because east saa<mi is often used as a collective term for several saami groups.