[1] The northern district of Finnmark, within which Vardø lies, experienced the highest rate of accusations of witchcraft of any part of Norway, and an unusually high proportion of executions arising from the trials.

[3] The Steilneset Memorial was jointly commissioned by the town of Vardø, Finnmark County, the Varanger Museum, and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, and has been associated with the development of the National Tourist Routes in Norway.

[1] A collaboration between French-American artist Louise Bourgeois and previous winner of the Pritzker Prize, Swiss architect Peter Zumthor,[4] design commenced in 2006, and the monument was opened by Queen Sonja of Norway on 23 June 2011.

[4] The Memorial comprises two separate buildings: a 410-foot (120 m) long wooden structure framing a fabric cocoon that contains Zumthor's installation; and a square smoked glass room, its roof 39 feet (12 m) on each side, that contains the work of Bourgeois.

[4] Zumthor's structure is made from wooden frames, fabricated off-site and assembled to create sixty bays in a long line within which, suspended by cable-stays, is a coated fibreglass membrane that tapers at each end.