Exhibition "Law of the Land"

Opening Event on Friday, June 21

Program:

• 18:00 – Opening by Anne Elisa Tryti, Project Director at Vestland County Municipality. Speech by the exhibition’s academic advisors.
• 19:30 – “Between Land and Law – A Historical Narrative Program” featuring Guttorm Rogdaberg, Anne Hesvik, Inger-Kristine Riber, and Reidun Horvei. Separate tickets for this part of the program available on Ticketco – here you can purchase tickets.

About the Exhibition

In 2024, it marks 750 years since Magnus Lagabøte enacted The Land Charter (Landslova) of 1274—a significant legal milestone commemorated nationwide! This groundbreaking law book shaped our country for approximately 400 years, and perhaps now we are beginning to fully understand its profound impact on our nation.

At Agatunet, where our history is closely tied to the law and its era, we are commemorating the anniversary with the exhibition “Law of the Land.” This exhibition explores key property relations outlined in The Land Charter (Landslova), focusing on inheritance, land redistribution, and orchards—topics crucial then and now for our region and its people who maintain land ownership. Through examples from diplomatic sources, the exhibition also illustrates how the law was applied in practice, directly influencing people’s lives. The exhibition includes texts for children, interactive elements, and will remain at Agatunet throughout the anniversary year. It opens on June 21 and can be visited daily from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM until Sunday, September 1, 2024. After Agatunet closes for the season on September 1, the exhibition will be available by appointment until the reopening in May 2025.

During this period, Agatunet was home to the knight and lawman Sigurd Brynjolvsson, who administered justice here according to the newly enacted Landslov. The Legist’s House at our site is Norway’s oldest preserved courtroom, and our jubilee exhibition is housed in the authentic medieval cellar beneath the banquet hall. Here, you can also see a replica of Norway’s oldest complete legal document, the Bleie Diploma, resolving a dispute between farmers in Indre and Ytre Bleie—a solution upheld on Bleie for centuries.

Academic advisors for the exhibition are Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde, Professor of Legal History at the University of Oslo, and Lars August Hafting Kvestad, Associate Professor at the Department of Building, Environment, and Natural Sciences at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.

Support for the Exhibition: The exhibition is supported by Vestland County Municipality, Sparebanken Vest, and Ullensvang Municipality.