Cityscape
The Hedmark museum, located on Domkirkeodden, is an important historical landmark in Hamar, an outdoor museum with remains of the medieval church, in a protective glass housing, the episcopal fortress and a collection of old farm houses. The museum is a combined medieval, ethnological and archaeological museum and has received architectural prizes for its approach to conservation and exhibition. It also houses a vast photographic archive for the Hedmark region.
Hamar is also known for its indoor long track speed skating and bandy arena, the Olympia Hall, better known as Vikingskipet ("The Viking ship") for its shape. It was built to host the speed skating competitions of the 1994 Winter Olympics that were held in nearby Lillehammer. Already in 1993 it hosted the Bandy World Championships.The Vikingskipet Olympic Arena was later used in the winter of 2007 as the service park for Rally Norway, the second round of the 2007 World Rally Championship season. Its been the host for the worlds second largest computer party The Gathering starting on the Wednesday in Easter each year, for the last 13 years.
Also situated in Hamar is the Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre which hosted the figure skating and short track speed skating events of the 1994 Winter Olympics. The figure skating competition was highly anticipated. It featured Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, who drew most of the media attention, however the gold medal was won by Oksana Baiul of Ukraine.
The centre of Hamar is the pedestrian walkway in the middle of town, with the library, cinema and farmer's market on Stortorget (the big square) on the western side, and Østre Torg (the eastern square), which sits on top of an underground multi-story carpark, on the eastern side.
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