Discover Vitlycke museum
Vitlycke museum is a visitor center for the World heritage Rock carvings in Tanum. Directly adjacent to the museum is the most well-known rock carving in Scandinavia – the Vitlycke panel. You can learn more about rock carvings and the period they come from in the museum exhibition.
During the summer months there are daily guided tours of the rock carvings. In the Bronze Age farm, you can experience ancient crafts and archery. Vitlycke Museum is open from Easter until early November.
Opening hours 2022
14-18, 23-24 April and 30 April-1 May: 10–16
May – August: daily, 10–17
September – 6 November: daily, 10–16
Free admission
Museum shop/café
The museum shop has the same opening hours as the museum. You will find books textiles, pottery and glass with Bronze Age and rock art motifs, among other things.
Café Bronze is open during the summer.
See the sights
The World heritage rock art sites:
- The Vitlycke panel is situated 300 meters from Vitlycke museum. This panel has multitude of images: ships, humans, animals and cup marks are jostling for space with the Weather God and the famous Bridal couple. Near the panel is a path leading uphill past several smaller panels to two great Bronze Age cairns.
- Aspeberget is situated 700 meters down the road from Vitlycke museum. Aspeberget truly deserves its nickname ”the Holy Mountain”. It is covered in rock carvings and there are seven different sites to visit. The path around the entire site is 800 meters long.
- Litsleby is situated 2 km southwest of Vitlycke museum. The most eye-catching carving is the Spear God, 2,3 meters from head to toe – the largest depiction of a human in Scandinavian rock art. He may be a precursor to the Norse god Odin. If you follow the trail about 100 meters you come to an exciting carving with a group of horsemen armed with spears and shields. Fossum is situated 5 km north east of Vitlycke museum.
- The Fossum panel is an integrated composition with images of people, ships, footsoles, animals and cup marks. If follow the path for about 200 meters, you will reach Balken, with a beautiful depiction of a Sun horse.
Our exhibition ”Images, bronzes & stories” is an introduction to the rock carvings and the time period when they were made. Archaeological facts are mixed with a fictional story about a Bronze Age family from Tanum.
The Bronze Age farm is an archaeological open-air museum where you can visit houses and see how people in Tanum lived 3000 years ago.
Activities
During the summer months there is a guided presentations, at 13.00, of the Vitlycke rock art panel. The guided tour starts at the museum entrance and lasts for about 30 minutes.
Exciting activities in the Bronze Age farm happen daily 11.00-16.30 during the summer. You can for example shoot the bow and arrow and try your hand at different crafts. The activities vary.
Book a guided tour
Vitlycke Museum offers guided tours and presentations for groups of different sizes. You can get anything from a brief 30-minute introduction to museum to a four-hour long excursion in the World heritage.
Getting here
By car
Take 105 exit off the E6 towards Tanumshede. Then follow the signs from the church in Tanum.
By public transport
You can get to Tanumshede either by bus or train. The buses stop in central Tanumshede (three kilometers from the museum) and at Tanum Shopping center (2,5 kilometers from the museum). The trains stop at the Tanumshede rail way station, five kilometers from the museum. The bus stop closest to Vitlycke museum is called Hoghem, 500 meters from the museum. Follow the road westward from the bus stop, past the Tanum camping, to the museum.
