Evju Bygdetun

The Evju Bygdetun Foundation operates a farm with land and forest in Midt-Telemark municipality and manages 20 historical buildings from the 1700th - 1900th centuries with museum collections. Evju Bygdetun is open every day in the summer from 12 - 17 pm in July with guided tours, exhibitions and Eldhuskafe. Family-friendly farm with playground, chickens and rabbits in the yard, horses and sheep on pasture.

Evju Bygdetun arranges exhibitions, courses, concerts, lectures, activity days and food days. Depending on the season, school classes have regular teaching days at the Bygdetun with various activities related to farming and cultural heritage within the Cultural School Backpack. Several interest groups use different premises on the farm for regular activities every week throughout the year. We welcome groups for tours and catering all year round and rent out premises for meetings and celebrations. Many celebrate weddings on the farm with a large banquet hall (100 people) in Nye Sjodar, sideboard, gifts or wedding cake in Fjoset and dancing at Låven.

Evju Village Garden is located in Sætersbø in Sauherad municipality and is a historic farm with a protected cultural landscape under Lifjell towards the river that flows into Norsjø. The farm was probably cleared in Roman times or during the Migration Period based on the ancient monument at Evju Bygdetun; a rock with grinding pits for arrowheads and weapons from about 3-400 BC. The first written sources about the farm Evju/Sætre are linked to Glørsætta from Iceland in 1294. Tradition has it that the houses on the farm have burned down three times, most recently in 1730. After the fire, the farmhouse was built on the old wall, with an unusually deep basement that is said to have been used as a prison. The stable is from the 1700th century but restored with rich carvings in the early 1900th century by Jon Evju de med søner. The farm workshop tells the story of an artistic and creative family with great creative joy, as we see in the house and furnishings. Mother Bergit and daughter Helga were skilled textile artists, as we see on display in folk costumes, weaving and spring work.

Outside the authentic farmstead, several cultural and historical buildings have been moved in since Evju became a village farm: The Vengeburet from Stenningen is the last one preserved in the village, used for drying flax and grain. Beltevevarstugo tells the story of the folk artist Hælge Storskot who developed the Beltestakken. Møllargutstugo tells the story of the fiddler Møllarguten who grew up in this cottage out on Nesodden. Kittelsenstugo was moved here from Indlæggen where the father of the fairy tale illustrator Th Kittelsen grew up. Holtanstugo with its rose painting by Ola Hansson was moved from the farm of Captain Hans Ibsen, one of the ancestors of the poet Henrik Ibsen. The Sjodar youth house was built at Sunds ved Nordagutu in 1922 by Sauherad mållag, where teacher Jon Evju was one of the initiators. The Nes National Dance Association used the house for many years, but in the 2000s, dance rehearsals were held in Fjoset at Evju Bygdetun due to heating and toilet conditions. In 2022, the 100-year-old 120m2 house was moved entirely on wheels along the road to Evju Bygdetun by Lofthus LiftJig AS and jacked up on new archive cellars and fire-resistant warehouses. Nye Sjodar-Evju Bygdetun has adapted acoustics and a dance floor with a failure similar to that at the National Stage in Oslo with support from KulturRom and is widely used by many volunteer groups and rented out for events. Nye Sjodar regional stage for folk music and dance, arranges concerts with local and national performers of high quality every month.

Many archaeological discoveries have been made in the area that testify to the area's long history. Among other things, there is a large burial mound field at Leikvangmogane. The old Jønnvegen also ran here in the 1600th century from the Feensgruvene over Norsjø, up the river to Tangen under Evju and further towards the Hørteverket. With a new Archive Cellar and fireproof warehouse under Nye Sjodar, Evju Bygdetun has become a regional reception center for metal detector finds in Telemark, on the "Viking Road" between the Borre mounds in Vestfold and the Hardangervidda plateau at the top of Telemark. The detector environment Telemark History Hunters are affiliated with the Bygdetunet and the mouth harp blacksmith Simen Roheim Iversen is allowed to use the farm forge for his crafts.
The entire farm with historical collections was bequeathed to a "living village hall and cultural center" by the last owner, teacher Jon Evju dy in 1975. He took good care of family traditions and also collected historical objects and cultural history from Telemark. The foundation runs the land, forests and manages 20 farmhouses with activities related to the dissemination of cultural heritage to children and young people, local residents and tourists. We provide support to several voluntary interest groups with various activities throughout the year, such as Broderikafe, Ungdans, Nes nasjonale dansarring, Sauherad Historielag, Nes og Saude Bygdetunlag, Evjuspelet, Telemark history hunters and Nye Sjodar folk music scene. We run Evju Bygdetun with respect for the past, which can give us greater knowledge about the present and a sustainable future.

Evju Bygdeturn is a unique starting point for communicating local and regional cultural heritage in Telemark. There are already established hiking trails from Gvarv along the river "Grøne Gangar" through the cultural landscape at Evju with Gapahuk in Eventyrskogen, over Leikvangmogane and up to Hørte, with a footbridge over the river to hiking trails in Bø municipality. Evju Bygdetun has grazing animals in this landscape and several neighboring farms with cows, sheep and horses. One of the bicycle routes in Telemark also passes through the farm. The cultural landscape is used throughout the year and is easily accessible to people of all ages. We have teaching days for school classes in farm and cultural history within the Cultural Backpack in Midt-Telemark municipality and offer courses in "Creative Cooking" for companies and groups. We harvest herbs, vegetables, berries and fruit from the farm according to the seasons and our goal is that every meal we offer people will have at least one "uncooked" farm product and other good raw materials from Fruktbygda and Evju Mathage, which are run by volunteers as regenerative and organic farming. The yard is rented out for courses with catering, groups for guided tours with catering and weddings and celebrations. In recent years, over 12.000 visitors have been registered.