The museum is situated in a multi-functional collective building behind the group of timber houses. Meals were prepared in the kitchen and served to merchants and workers in the refectory. On the menu were cereals, bread, dairy produce, fish and meat, served at breakfast and dinner. When the weather was coldest, the men met after work to drink beer and warm up in the collective buildings that were thus at the centre of community life. They also served as schools for the apprentices living in the timber houses.