ALL I NEED IS MY PASSPORT

September 24, 2024

Gol Stave

Gol Stave is a 12th-century stave church originally from Gol in the region of Hallingdal, Norway. The reconstructed church is now located in the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History.

Although stave churches were common throughout Northern Europe in the Middle Ages, only about 30 stave churches survive in Norway, nearly all dating from the 12th and 13th centuries; Sweden, Poland, and England each have one of these churches.

A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building. The name derives from the building’s structure of post and lintel construction, where the load-bearing ore-pine posts are called stafr in Old Norse (stav in modern Norwegian).

In the typical Scandinavian type of stave church, a foundation of boulders supports a horizontal wooden frame on which sit four corner posts, or staves.

The staves are connected above by a rectangle of beams that complete a boxlike frame; all elements are joined by wooden pegs or by dovetailing and the outer wall timbers are positioned vertically, in contrast to the more common “log” horizontal placement used in wooden structures.

Every few years, the churches were tarred to safeguard the wood against the challenging weather conditions. The special glaze, made from pine resin, took days to prepare in a massive peat-and-wood mound called a mile.

Making the resin is an art in itself. The actual construction of the mile takes one to two days, and the burn itself takes (up to) three days. Building it requires accuracy. The wood is precisely stacked and knocked together to avoid air pockets that can cause problems during the burn.

The stacked wood would have been arranged on a hillside and insulated with at least a double layer of cut peat. Tenders needed to keep a fire around the mound burning at the right temperature and add more peat when needed. Over the days, the indirect heat reduced the wood at the center of the kiln into charcoal and released the tar, which was then collected downhill via a drain system.

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In Catholic times, the church was most likely decorated with colorful saints. Numerous runic inscriptions and carvings dated to the early Middle Ages are in the church. Most of the carvings are in the chancel and show animal figures, humans, and geometric symbols. The runes on one of the staves in the nave can be read as “Kiss me, because I struggle.”

A few examples of Lutheran church art, namely the wall paintings in the chancel and apse from 1652, have been preserved. The paintings were originally financed by the congregation members whose names are written on the wall of the chancel.

Fantoft

Fantoft was built in Fortun in Sogn in 1170 and moved to Fantoft in 1883. In June 1992, the church was set on fire and burned to the ground. The only thing left were the remains of the framework. The fire was believed to have been started deliberately by Varg Vikernes, the Norwegian black metal artist who was jailed for arson of several churches.

Vikernes stated that the church-burning campaign was part of a war Black Metal was waging on Christianity and Norwegian society.

 

While it was an easy decision to rebuild the church, it was a difficult undertaking. It had been several hundred years since the last stave church was built in Norway, so the existing knowledge about this type of structure was meager. There was also very little that could be used from the old church, so most of the building parts had to be made on-site according to surveys and existing drawings. The timber used in the reconstruction was 350-400-year-old pine trees.  The only remaining objects from the original church are a wish stone placed in one wall and the cross at the altar.

Fantoft is well-lit, unlike Gol Stave, making it easier to understand and see the stunning woodwork of the interior.

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The Sigurd saga, a famous Norse legend, is depicted in the detailed woodwork on the interior.

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Pews were not always found in Stave churches.  In Gol Stave, there was simply a small area around the perimeter similar to this one in Fantoft.

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September 2024

 

On the side of the main train station is Knus Nazismen. It was dedicated by five remaining members of the Osvald group,  a Norwegian organization active during World War II. The organization committed at least 110 acts of sabotage against Nazi occupying forces and the collaborationist government of Vidkun Quisling. On February 2, 1942, they detonated a bomb at Oslo East Station in protest against Quisling’s inauguration as Minister-President.

It was sculpted by Bjorn Melbye and unveiled on May 1st, 2015. The monument depicts a silver hammer smashing a silver swastika. The hammer and swastika rest atop a large boulder with the inscription, “It was worth fighting for freedom for all nations, for all races, for all classes, for all people” Asbjorn Sunde. (leader Osvald Group)

There are two plaques on the bedrock, one to members of the Osvald Group who gave their lives in the war from 1940 to 1945 and the other to members of the State Railway who also gave their lives.

The Oslo Bors, or stock exchange building, was constructed in 1827 and designed by Christian H. Grosch. It is Norway’s first monumental building. The garden was planted in the early 1800s and was Oslos’ first public park. Stock exchange trading is now fully electronic, so this building now serves as offices for the Bors.

Surrounded by trees, the Cathedral is difficult to photograph from the outside. It was rebuilt between 1848 and 1850 after a plan by German-born architect Alexis de Chateauneuf.

The ceiling murals were painted by Hugo Lous Mohr between 1936 and 1950. They depict scenes from the Bible and the history of Christianity in Norway and are considered some of the finest examples of religious painting in the country.

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On the exterior of the Cathedral is the Devil of Norway. It is about 900 years old and was found among the ruins of St. Hallvard’s Cathedral. The statue was removed from the ruins and placed on the walls of the Oslo Cathedral. The figure depicts a man being attacked by a dragon and a lion on both sides.

Saint Hallvard’s is the home of the country’s largest Roman Catholic parish and is named after the city’s guardian saint.

After slogging up a ridiculous hill through dirt paths and large residential highrises, I found the church to be closed. I had attempted a visit because of its interior dome.

The Brutalist building was built in 1964 by the architecture firm of Lund & Slaatto. Its main feature is an asymmetrical inverted concrete dome that, viewed from the air, looks like a huge bowl. I borrowed this interior photo from an architecture website.

Bislett became Norway’s main arena for speed skating and track and field in 1940 and was designed by the architect Frode Rinnan. At the 1952 Winter Olympics, the stadium hosted some figure skating and speed skating events. 

Not far from Bislett Stadium is the urinal Kjærlighetskarusellen. It is not exactly something to go out of one’s way for, except that it is a Norwegian Cultural Heritage Site. Nicknamed the Carousel of Love, it served as an important meeting place for gay men during a time when homosexuality was taboo in Norway. Sex between men was illegal in Norway until 1972.

Of course, I visited a cemetery in Oslo. The most famous is the Cemetery of Our Saviour, which was created in 1808 due to the great famine and cholera epidemic of the Napoleonic Wars. Its grounds were extended in 1911. The cemetery has been full and thus closed for new graves since 1952, with interment only allowed in existing family graves.

There are many famous people buried here, but the two I recognized were Edvard Munch and Henrik Ibsen.

While wandering, I found this lovely sculpture by Ola Enstad, “Diver sculpture.” It consists of six stylized life-size divers diving into the Akerselva River.

Not far away, I walked across this stunning white bridge that crossed the Akerselva River.  It struck me how it would be such a delight to walk the river and see all the other beautiful sites.  There seems to never be enough time to accomplish all one wants when traveling.

The steepness of this little road doesn’t show how much uphill I walked, but what it will show you is the fact that it is not a city to walk without a good solid pair of shoes.

In my aimless walking, I spotted these stolperstein.  I have seen them before, after being introduced to them by a dear friend who now lives in Jerusalem. A Stolperstein is a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution. Literally, it means ‘stumbling stone’ and metaphorically ‘stumbling block’.

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It was an exhausting day, but the weather was glorious.  I had the most incredible lobster roll for lunch at Code Restaurant (Dronning Eufemias gate 18) and fabulous Ramen for dinner at Koie Ramen, where, ironically, the chef is Filipino.

 

September 2024

Kon Tiki Museum

I grew up with stories of Thor Hyerdahl and Roald Amundsen, so visiting these museums on a very rainy day was a real education. Hyerdahl was a handsome adventurer and Norwegian ethnologist who became famous by organizing and leading the famous Kon-Tiki (1947) and Ra (1969–70) transoceanic scientific expeditions.

On April 28, 1947, Heyerdahl and a small crew sailed from Peru in the primitive raft Kon-Tiki. (named for a legendary Inca god) and made from locally available balsa logs from Callao, Peru. Three and a half months later, their arrival in Polynesia demonstrated the possibility that the Polynesians may have originated in South America.

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In 1969, Heyerdahl and a small crew crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Morocco to within 600 miles of Central America in a facsimile of an ancient Egyptian reed boat, the Ra. Thus, they confirmed the possibility that the pre-Columbian cultures of the Western Hemisphere might have been influenced by Egyptian civilization.

Both expeditions were intended to prove the possibility of ancient transoceanic contacts between distant civilizations and cultures. Thor Heyerdahl was right there was contact with South America, but he was not right that everyone came from there. The population of Rapa Nui has a small contribution of DNA from South America, dating to pre-European times. Other of Heyerdahl’s theories regarding navigation have been dispelled.

This is a collection of cave stone sculptures collected by Heyerdahl from Easter sland.  In 1955-56, he learned that there were old family caves passed down through the generations. Heyerdahl was the first outsider allowed into one of these caves.  These sculptures vary in age and have been at the Kon Tiki Museum since Heyerdahl brought them back to Oslo.

In 2019, King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway signed an agreement that pledged to transfer items from Oslo’s Kon Tiki Museum to a “well-equipped” museum on Easter Island.

Fram Museum

Opened in 1936, the Fram Museum honors Norwegian polar exploration in general and four Norwegian polar explorers in particular – Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen.

Fram (“Forward”) is a ship that these Norwegian explorers used on expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic regions between 1893 and 1912.

Roald Amundsen and a crew of six on the Gjøa were the first to sail through the Northwest Passage in a three-year journey, ending in 1906.

Amundsen then decided to be the first to adventure to the South Pole.

In 1925, Amundsen attempted to fly to the North Pole with five others in two aircraft, the N24 and the N25. After more than eight hours in the air, they landed on leads in the drift ice. The six men struggled for 3½ weeks to create a runway on the drift ice.

Amundsen visited San Francisco, California, in the autumn of 1913. He was there on a lecture tour when Norwegian-American Johnsen gave him a plane ride, strengthening Amundsen’s belief that this was the transport method of the future.

This war memorial sits on the water outside the Fram Museum.  The Google translation of the plaque reads: “In the Second World War 1939 – 1945, over one thousand Nordic vessels from merchant fleet and navy performed countless military missions and transported 145 million tons of invaluable importance to the Allied victory. Trade ships were armed, and more than half were lost. Four thousand five hundred were killed in the battle for Norway’s liberation of our seafarers. The courage and loyalty will always be reminded of deep respect and gratitude.”

I took the ferry across the inner Oslo fjord to return to my hotel.  This interesting sculpture is on the ferry landing. It is by Ola Enstad, who also did the divers found near the Radisson on the Akerselva River.

September 2024

I have never been to Norway, so this is a new adventure.  I have come to view the Northern Lights, but that will be in another week.  For now, I am enjoying Oslo.  It is a fascinating city with incredible architecture, delightful people, and perfect weather.

According to legend Thorny Hallvard, the cousin of St. Olav, became a local small trader who traveled often on business. One day in the spring of 1043, as he was preparing to row his boat across the fjord, a young, pregnant thrall  (Viking Age slave or serf)  ran up and begged him to take her with him as three men were pursuing her.

She explained that the men had accused her of breaking into and stealing from a house, which she had not done. Hallvard believed she was innocent, took her into his boat, and started to row across the fjord. Just then, the three men pursuing her got to the shore and resumed their pursuit in another boat. They called to Hallvard to demand that he hand the woman over to them. Hallvard refused. Furious, they shot arrows that struck Hallvard in the neck, killing him.

The three men tried to hide the evidence of the murder by bludgeoning the woman to death and burying her on the shore and by tossing Hallvard’s body into the fjord after tying a millstone around his neck. A few days later, Hallvard’s body was found floating in the fjord, the millstone still securely tied to his neck. Friends who had been searching for him fished his body up and wrapped it with stalks of osier shrub native to the area and then buried him near his home. Soon, the stalks of osier shrub at his grave miraculously began to sprout. The man who had died defending an innocent woman became a local and then a national martyr.

The present version of the manhole cover, designed in 1924, shows Hallvard on a lion throne, the three lethal arrows in his left hand, the millstone in his right hand, and the nude woman he attempted to save at his feet. There’s a motto in Latin around the periphery, reading Unanimiter et Constanter (Unanimous and Eternal).

Bjørvika

I am staying on Bjørvika harbor, and the first thing you see is this sculpture called She Lies by Italian artist Monica Bonvicini. It is based on Caspar David Friedrich’s painting Das Eismeer (The Sea of Ice). The artwork floats on a concrete platform tethered to the harbor floor, allowing it to turn and change based on the tides and currents. It is different from every view.

Also on the harbor is Mother, a sculpture by the artist Tracey Emin. It is a huge kneeling figure caressing an unknown something, with its back to the Munch Museum.

The Munch Museum is dedicated to the works of Edvard Munch and was built in 2020.  It was designed by Spanish architect Juan Herreros of Herreros Arquitectos.

Across the Akerselva River from the Munch Museum is the Oslo Opera House, which also houses the Oslo Ballet Company.

Designed by Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta, construction started in 2003 and was completed in 2007.

The ground floor of the Opera House contains the work studios for carpenters, dressmakers, and others. You can peek in the windows and see what is going on.

The artist says, “I wanted to construct an ambiguous stone presence that could be experienced not only with the eyes but also by direct physical contact.” The granite sculpture sits in front of Oslo’s new central library in Bjørvika.

The international architecture competition to design Oslo’s new main library was won by Lund Hagem and Atelier Oslo architects in 2009. “The librarians wanted a house that would inspire visitors to explore all the new facilities and activities the modern library can offer. This motivated us to create an open and intriguing building in which you are constantly invited around the next corner, to discover new places”.

That the building took more than a decade to complete was the result of at least one engineering snafu (in 2014, the foundation sprung a leak, delaying construction by a year) and politicians’ efforts to reduce the cost. (The eventual budget was about $230 million.)

Barcode Area of Bjørvika

The Bjørvika Barcode project consists of twelve narrow high-rise buildings of different heights and widths. The buildings are built with some space in between them, thus jointly resembling a barcode. Barcode buildings are the home of leading national and international businesses, and 10,000 people work there daily. The buildings also contain 400 apartments and a daycare center. On the street are a plethora of restaurants, shops, galleries, and other service providers.

Each building is specifically designed to be different, and all were designed by different architects.

The buildings seen in the photo above: Starting on the left PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) Building, the first Barcode building to be completed. Next is the Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP) Building by Solheim & Jacobsen  the next is the The PWC building is by A-Lab. Next is the Deloitte Building by Snøhetta.

After the Deloitte building is an open area called the Station Common, taking you to the Akrobatan Bridge.

After that is the Visma Building by Dark Arkitekter.  Then DnB NOR Building by MVRDV, Dark Arkitekter, and a-lab

 

Akrobaten (‘the acrobat’) is a pedestrian bridge stretching across the railway tracks of Oslo central station, connecting the two neighborhoods of  Grønland and Bjørvika. The construction is made of steel and glass, with a total weight of approximately 500 tons. NLI was the engineering/design company.

The Norwegian practice MAD arkitekter created these bike stands called the ‘MAD Bike.’ Made of stainless steel, they provide safe bicycle parking and create an interesting visual and spatial impression. They are arranged in a pattern that emulates a peloton – a pack of riders in a road bicycle race, Tour de bjørvika! The front bike leads the pack in the direction of the fjord.

The Nordenga bridge, also by NLI, crosses the railroad tracks and connects Bjørvika with inner-city Oslo. The design choice, with trusses and columns supporting the roadway, was based on a minimum number of columns within the track area. The steel bridge weighs 2100 tons.

Felleskap by Norwegian sculptor Nico Widerberg across the river from the Clarion Oslo, where I am staying

A multicourse dinner at Vaaghals was worth every penny.