Madame Reiff's shop
Next to the General Store is an almost-hidden gem of a shop called Madame Reiff’s. Shopping here is like a treasure hunt: you’re sure to discover unusual jewelry and accessories.
Semi-precious stones have been used in jewelry for thousands of years—and Madame Reiff’s has a unique selection of well-designed pieces, along with a tantalizing array of loose stones and minerals.
You'll also find wrought iron and leather products here. In these old and historic premises, you'll be inspired as soon as you see all the fine products on display. This building has been used as a shop since the 1800s. Candlesticks, leather, bags and gloves are great gift ideas and something to treat yourself to. Other items such as blankets, napkins and linen fabric for curtains, for example, are also popular in Madame Reiff's shop at Haugfoss. If you take a look around several of our stores and cafés, you'll see that it's the same linen fabric we use to make our own curtains.
Did you know that Edvard Munch was one of the guests at Madame Reiff's guest house? Read more about "Morgen", which he painted here in 1884.
Mrs Reiff
Her original name was Anne Kirstine Gulbrandsen, born in Romerike in 1825. She was married to the Bavarian builder, Georg Nicolaus Reiff, hence the name. Anne had worked since the age of confirmation, including as a housemaid in Christiania for Fredrik Stang (1808-1884), who later became Norway's Prime Minister.
According to an article in Drammens tidene (26 February 1983), Anne met her future husband in the capital when he took part in building work at the Royal Palace. From the early 1850s, we know that Georg Reiff worked as a builder for Blaafarveværket. The builder's yard was just across the road from the shops at Haugfoss.
When Georg passed away in 1883, the household lost much of its income. In order to improve their finances, Anne began to offer board and lodging to travellers. In the 1891 census, we can see that Anne received summer guests in Byggmestergården, which was then called Madame Reiff's boarding house.
It was Anne who welcomed Frits Thaulow and his outdoor academy in 1883-84. Among Thaulow's artist friends was a young Edvard Munch, who painted one of his first recognised works, Morgen/Pike på sengekanten here in 1884. Read more about «When Munch visited Modum» here.
Quote from one of the students at the Outdoor Academy in a newspaper article in 1883:
”After drinking our morning coffee, we set off in a variety of costumes - leather jumpers lined with red, botfores [sturdy boots] with leather edges, ladies' coats with rabbit skins - to the various stations [...]
H.
Then it's lunch at 12.00. Hot lunch with beer and dram and a huge appetite. After lunch we enjoy coffee and the post [...]
Out again at 3-4 o'clock, as the light is on. Then you sit at home in the cosy living rooms and doze until dinner, which is taken at 6 o'clock. We live very well up here with our excellent hostess and her gracious beautiful daughters [...].
Early to bed! Have a good sleep, if no one is awakened by the fact that one of the young painters - one with a pronounced interest in roof tiles - rushes up in the middle of the night to look at his pictures.”
As you can read, the hostess was well liked. Madame Reiff died aged 78 in 1903. By then she had retired from running a boarding house and moved to Nyfossum a few years earlier. For the last few years of her life, she worked transporting goods for Haugfoss Tresliperi. The builder's yard/boarding house is now demolished.
