Dagestad museum

Dagestad and the dragon style

Opening hours 2026. The Dagestad museum is open by appointement. Please contact Voss folkemuseum if you wish to visit the museum. 

The woodcarver Magnus Dagestad (1865–1957) was one of the most prominent representatives of the dragon style in Western Norway. Like other artists of his time he was inspired by the aesthetics on the Stave Churches and from the Viking Age. He founded a workshop and woodcarving school in Voss, and was head of the arts and crafts school Norsk Kunsthandverksskule for many years.

Dagestad was apprenticed to Lars Kinsarvik in Hardanger. During his apprenticeship, Dagestad met his first wife – Helena Bu. Helena practised the art of Norwegian rose painting, and selected the colours and painted the subjects on many of his most famous works.

In 1950, on his 85th birthday, Magnus Dagestad opened a small museum dedicated to his life’s work. His descendants went on to build a bigger museum, which opened in 1977. Many of Dagestad’s works are displayed here. In 2016 the Dagestad museum became part of Hardanger and Voss Museum.