THE SHORE TOWN
Jelsa is the best-preserved shore town in Ryfylke and was chosen in 2008 as Rogaland’s most idyllic place by NRK (the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation). The shore town’s roots reach back to the 1600s when Jelsa was an important church center and home parish. Today’s Jelsa has a cozy neighborhood with little 18th-century houses with the lovely wooden church as their closest neighbor.

THE SCHOOL MUSEUM
The School Museum, or the Riiberg Trust, is located in one of these little houses. The schoolhouse was built in 1774 for funds from a foundation set up by Marcille Riiberg in 1755. The school was both a primary school for local children and also a free two-year training school for two young people at a time. They were then sent out to work as itinerant teachers in the countryside. This continued for more than 40 years until teacher training was abandoned in 1820 for economic reasons. The primary school remained here until the early 1900s. The schoolhouse was restored and made into a museum on the initiative of personnel from Jelsa school.
The schoolhouse in Jelsa is an important memorial to school history while also being an important building for the local setting as well as an element in the shore town’s history.

You can order a guided tour through Jelsa, that include both the schoolhouse and Jelsa’s church, starting from the little kiosk on the shore.

ARRIVING HERE

Take state highway 517, Jelsavegen, or 686, Økstrafjordvegen, to the shore town.