The first statutory board meeting of The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design was held on 11th February 2003. In July the same year, the museum was established as a foundation. This meeting marked the amalgamation of The Norwegian Museum of Architecture, The Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, The Museum of Contemporary Art and the National Gallery.
A new Director, Sune Nordgren, was appointed during the autumn, and the work of restructuring The National Museum from four separate museums began. This entailed the creation of one, split-function organisation with four different exhibition venues. In April 2005, most of the staff of The National Museum moved to a new administration building in Kristian Augusts gate 23, close to Tullinlřkka. On the 1st of July 2005, The National Touring Exhibitions, Norway became part of the museum. August 2007 Allis Helleland took over as new Director of The National Museum. In August 2008 Helleland withdrew from her position. The Board of the museum temporarily appointed Ingar Pettersen as Director. Audun Eckhoff was appointed as a new director in January 2009 and started work in the museum in March 2009.
Aims
The aims of the new museum are to "raise the level of knowledge about and commitment to the visual arts, architecture, the decorative arts and design, develop critical faculties, stimulate new perceptions, increased historical consciousness and tolerance of diversity".
Exhibitions
The 3 basis exhibitions showcase work from the museum's own collections and are presented respectively in The Museum of Decorative Arts, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The National Gallery and The National Museum - Architecture.