Creation of the Hansen Commemorative Rooms in the 1960s

The Armauer Hansen Commemorative Rooms opened five years after the last head physician and Chief Medical Officer for Leprosy, Reidar Melsom, moved out of the office and laboratory. Ernst Glück, who invested a great deal of effort to create the Commemorative Rooms and preserve medical history in general, wrote in an article in 1964 that the formal initiative for an Armauer Hansen museum or commemorative room originated from persons affiliated with the University of Bergen, but that voices from abroad had already called for a collection of memories and artefacts relating to Hansen and his work. The memorial room was funded by the Norwegian government.

In addition to what was already in the laboratory and library – which had been used by several different doctors over the years – a number of other artefacts were collected. Most of the artefacts are presented in two display cases in the library/office. One case contains Hansen’s most important scholarly works, awards and personal items. The second case contains documents and correspondence relating to the Second International Conference on Leprosy, which was held in Bergen in 1909.