*Note: hovering or clicking on seperate photos in montages may bring up descriptions.
One of the nice things about attending the university here is that you get in to almost all the museums in Oslo FREE. In addition, one of the nice things about being in a museum is that they are climate controlled. It has been between 85º and 90º F. There are not a lot of airconditioned buildings in Norway. They are usually trying to keep warm instead of cold. This is the hottest summer they’ve had on record. It’s been 77ºF the last two nights here at 11:30 pm! So . . . museums it is!
There are a lot of museums here. Yesterday, I went to the Museum of Cultural History. The mission of this museum is to “research, manage, and show our shared [world] history”. There were some absolutely amazing exhibits from all over the world. Wendy (one of the other 2 scholarship winners – from Portland) and I started in the Egypt room. We saw several mummys and scarcaphagi. One of the mummys was wrapped in white linen, which was then wrapped in red linen, and then linen straps were wrapped around that.
The threadcount of the linen is amazing – especially when you take into consideration that it was handspun, possibly on some sort of spindle. The white straps are so fine you can’t even see the threads in the photo.
A word about my photos – It is difficult to photograph some of these things. The rooms are dim, because the light can deteriorate the museum pieces. They are behind glass, and the glass, often, is smudged with fingerprints. There are shadows and glare.
I got some pictures of bands woven by a few different cultures. The first ones are from south america. I find it interesting that so many cultures around the world share similar patterns. Wendy didn’t realize that we were looking at South American samples, until I pointed it out. She assumed that because the rose pattern was present that it was from one of the Nordic nations. Notice also the spindle.
Also there were Sami bands. The Sami are a nomadic indigenous people who live in the Arctic Circle and follow the reindeer herds. They are sometimes known as Lapplanders. However, that moniker is politically incorrect.
After seeing the peoples of the world exhibits, we went to look at the Viking age artifacts. The exhibit was limited because they were working on a new one. There were several floors of one wing that were closed. However, here are a few selected photos from the exhibit we did get to see:
We then went to the Local Husflid. The Husflid is a regional store where you can buy Norwegian regional costumes and the pieces that go with them, as well as some other locally produced folk type goods – Norwegian sweaters, blankets, specialized household goods, etc. It is VERY expensive, but the real deal. We went in to see the bunads (folk dress) for the regions and the jewelery. The bunads are made to order. You don’t just go in there and “pick one up” on the way home from the grocery store. Unfortunately, I can’t share any pictures with you. There is an over $100 American dollar fine for taking pictures of them in the Husflid bunad room. Uh, yeah. Not sure why.
More on another day.
Ha det!
As the Whorl Turns 