Our history

The National Bunad Board (Statens bunadsnemnd), the predecessor to today’s Norwegian Institute of Bunad and Folk Costume, was established to provide Norwegians all around the country with guidance on bunad-related matters. The board came under the remit of the section for small-scale industry and crafts (Heimeyrkekontoret) in the Ministry of Agriculture.

In 1950 it was decided at a large meeting held in Trondheim that the national board should have the authority to officially recognise bunads. The board's mandate was never to order or prohibit anything, merely to serve as an advisory body, and the term 'recognise' was therefore soon replaced with 'advise'.

When the section for small-scale industry and crafts was closed down in 1955, administration of the National Bunad Board was transferred to the section for art and culture and the name changed to the National Board for Bunad Issues. Its members were now appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture. The board was tasked with preventing the further decline of folk costume traditions, providing advice on reconstruction where folk costumes were at risk of dying out and expressing its opinion on proposals for new bunad designs that had no roots in bunad traditions.

In 1967, the board was radically reorganised, provided with its own secretariat and new statutes. It was decided that the members should represent cultural history research generally and folk costumes specifically, and should develop expertise in the areas of textiles and needlework. According to new guidelines, bunads should be in keeping with local folk costume traditions, and the board should only provide advice based on historical knowledge of folk costumes.

In the 1980s, the board stopped using the terms 'recommended' and 'not recommended' and instead expressed opinions on bunads when asked to do so. 

The board was again renamed in 1986, this time to the Bunad and Folk Costume Council, and the secretariat relocated from Oslo to Fagernes in the same year. 

In 2008, the Bunad and Folk Costume Council was consolidated with Valdresmusea AS. An agreement was signed between the Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs and Valdresmusea AS establishing that the national tasks should be continued, and that the ministry would continue to appoint the advisory body.

The stated purpose of the Bunad and Folk Costume Council was expanded in 2008. Whereas previously it was to protect folk costume traditions and use of the bund, and ensure that for all help and advice should be based on locally distinctive customs, it now stated that the council should ‘promote, protect and continue the use and production of bunads and folk costumes in Norway as an expression of cultural identity' (paragraph 1). The council was therefore composed of members with broader expertise in the cultural field than was previously the case. The council and the institute director meet regularly to discuss the council's professional activities.

In 2010, the unit at Valdres Folk Museum was named the Norwegian Institute of Bunad and Folk Costume. The government-appointed Bunad and Folk Costume Council retained its name.