The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History comprises a huge park containing examples of all the major folk architectural styles from throughout Norway. It’s the oldest open air museum in the world (established as early as 1894) with 158 buildings representing different regions and time periods in the Norwegian history dating back to the 16th century. They are carefully taken apart, transported from their location and put back together again on the site:

_{The Farmstead of Numedal; extends from the Hardanger plateau down to the town of Kongsberg.}

So the placement of these buildings in relation to each other followed regional patterns. The loft and bur in Telemark were commonly placed side by side:

_{The loft has a gallery on three sides on the upper floor and is decorated with carved floral motifs.}


Not only are you able to see the houses outside, but inside it’s furnished too:

_{Farmhouse from Hallingdal – 1750.}


Throughout the year there are activities and exhibits of all kinds, as well as various reconstructed activities of everyday life:


_{How about horse &carriage rides through the open-air museum?}



You can participate in spring cleaning or buy authentic lefse, a kind of soft flat bread baked on the open fireplace like it was 200 years ago:

_{Inside an old farm house, two girls were demonstrating making the dough and baking and all gets a taste:}


They willingly shared the baking tradition and recipe – Hardanger Lefse: 2 egg, 250 gram sugar, 125 gram melted butter, ½ litre milk, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1 kilo flour.
Mix egg, sugar & butter and stir in milk. Mix baking powder with some flour and blend. Mix enough flour so it’s easy to roll. Bake on a griddle or a dry pan:


The Old Town part of the open air exhibition contains buildings from the 1600s and upwards. There is a Historic Playground and an old fashioned Grocery Store from the beginning of the 1900s as well:


_{Colonial – Milk – Delicacy}



This historical museum is enjoyable for the entire family. They plan activities for the children as well, and this was always a popular place when my children were small. They loved to go in and out of these fascinating buildings, they loved to pet the horse drawing the wagon and maybe give him some hay, and they loved the children’s activities. This weekend the theme was fastelaven, or the Sunday before the Easter fast, which the Catholics call Lent. As in Mardi Gras and Carnival, the rich foods like eggs, crème and butter were supposed to be used up so we have a tradition with crème filled sweet rolls. At the museum they had mask making for a kind of Carnival experience which as you can see here the children really enjoyed!


There is a lot more to explore and learn about Norway, our culture and history: The permanent exhibits include Folk Art, first half of the Parliament, Norwegian Folk Costumes, toys and more. The Norwegian Evening is an event held here in July and August where music, traditional dance, singing and other activities take place. I hope you will join us sometime – maybe at the Oslo Blog Gathering in August??

Update: I shared this adventure with my wife – hop over and read her report too: DianeCA

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The exhibition Back To The 80s in Oslo at The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History is a reminder of this decade of contrasts. It helps us to understand that history is happening here and now, that there is no coincidence and that we’re going to face it again. The story is not over – and the 80’s are not yet forgotten.

_{Anyone remember these fashions or Miami Vice?}


I was in my 30s at the time and remember much of this exhibition well. Some of us have spent almost 20 years trying to forget the 1980s. We have destroyed the images of ourselves with short hair on top and long in the neck (maybe hair everywhere, sprayed and teased up to a fur balls the size of the sun). We have sent Poco Loco-sweaters, shoulder pads and our white washed jeans to Africa. We have done our best to suppress the music that can best be described as a crime against humanity, like Kenny G’s Songbird, Modern Talking, Brother Louie or the Beach Boys’ Kokomo.

_{Do you still have you’re LPs and enjoy vinyl?}


The girls are no longer lounging in their pleather sofas and dreaming of Pat Sharp, Don Johnson and Patrick Swayze, but they still blush mysteriously when they remember their dates at Café Checkmate with newly rich Yuppies (young upwardly mobile professional individuals) and tanned UN soldiers home on leave from the war in Lebanon.

_{No girls in the sofa when I was there, but I still enjoyed the Stress Less}

Contrasts:
For many of us the 1980s represents a historical base point which we have partly succeeded in forgetting. But, as Bruce Springsteen sings in The Riverside from 1980; Memories come back to Haunt me. The exhibition shows that the 80s was a decade that perhaps more than anything else was characterized by sharp contrasts; between community involvement and individualism – despair and optimism as well as wealth and poverty – black and pastel, Punk Rock and dance pop and even between fear and liberation. All this was well illustrated at stands, displays rooms and furnishings:

_{The exhibition room at The Folk Museum.}


Laughter and suspense:
While the music of pop artists was positive and upbeat, the 80s began with intense fear at the height of the Cold War, right wing politics of The Reagan administration and Margret Thatcher. Fortunately it ended with liberation, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and a completely changed political climate.

_{Posters of pop icons: Madonna, Duran Duran, Michel Jackson, Bonjovi and Dire Straits.}


Along the way, we invented CD players and computers bread and milk became available around the clock, environmentalists who were more than hippies and a housing boom. The banks could lend us money to buy new homes. Having fun was allowed again. Here is a collection of stands that might jog your memory:

<sub>Left: Mac & Osborn (I had both!) – Right: TV & Videogames

Left: Children become consumers with Star Wars and designer clothes – Right: Adults got VHF cassette players.</sub>


It was an impressive and very visual exhibition taking me right down memory lane from the decade when I got finished my college years and got my masters degree in economics, started my career as a sales trainee, had my first born – a daughter, played A-Ha’s big hit Take on Me on my record player, bought my first Volvo and experienced the introduction of micro computers (do you remember spread sheets like SuperCalc and VisiCalc or WordPerfect?). What a blast from the past.

This is an example of the kinds of exhibition you may see at The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History. Here are some other earlier posts from there: Lefse and rural farmhouse from Norway and Folk Dance in Bunad from Norway.
It’s at Bygdøy island, just 20 minuets by boat or buss from Oslo, where you also find the Maritime, Viking Ship, KonTiki and even more museums. All this will be at your disposal at the Oslo Blog Gathering in Oslo in August this year. Even more: if you join us and book the Program Fee – entrance to these museums will be included! Click the logo to the left to read the program and how you can participant at a compact three days program to explore the city and Norway’s history, culture and traditions!

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President Barack Obama received the Norwegian Nobel Peace Committee’s award for 2009 in Oslo, Norway yesterday. A lot of pro et contra has been said about this years award: “A Nobel for nothing”, “Too much too soon”, “Sorry, Obama, you don’t deserve it yet”, “Peace Prize to Obama, but it’s not his fault” etc. However even the wonder and critical American media lately have taken the Nobel Committee in defence. Like when CNN’s Fareed Zakaria rhetorically asks whether Mother Teresa abolished poverty before she got the Peace Prize. Further more he said: “Wiped Al-Baradei out nuclear weapons or did Woodrow Wilson ending all war? The prize is often given on basis of vision rather than goals achieved”.

Obama left this morning and it’s time for a bit of afterthoughts; what’s the impression – what does Norwegian think and did he convinced the people in Norway and around the world? Well, it depends on whom you ask I guess and again; not all people in Norway think the same or speaks with one tongue. It’s like other controversial matters, like death penalty or abortion: There are different opinions – in your country too (I hope!). So reading through the press tonight, here are some reactions and reflections:

Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize speech made it:
Some says it was the best speech given in Norway and even more: this speech will go down in history as one of the truly great speeches of the Nobel Prize. Few have probably performed a Nobel speech at more convincing manner and he put it all in an ideal context, while he was talking about a real political world. He denied the gap that exists between the idealists and the realists who are very prominent in both the U.S. and in Norway which many thought was very liberating. Implicitly Obama demonstrated that he believes the war in Iraq is not a just war. By excluding the war in Iraq in his speech, Obama implied that he believes the war in Iraq is not a just war, like Afghanistan might be.
It was a wise speech in a “faded” voice – deep and principled and not a “Yes, We Can” speech – no reason for that under this circumstances. Also many pointed out that it was a good speech from the U.S. to the world. Obama for sure know how to do the right thing at the right time

Continuing at the Grand Galla dinner:
In the evening, after eating reindeer fillet, smoked farm sand, fish and moose, Obama gave his toast speech – a Norwegian tradition. He opened to comment Thorbjorn Jagland – The Nobel Committee chairman’s – speech during the ceremony: “You gave a brilliant speech. I was almost convinced that I deserved award,”….. to laughter from all the guests at the Grand Hotel.
- Both my and Jagland’s message is to lift the people and things that are forgotten for up to an international level, as was done when Martin Luther King received the prize in 1964, said the president.
- The case of the civil rights movement was still uncertain, and no one was sure how it would evolve. How we thought of each other and in the minority.
- It helped to put wind behind the sails of the fight that make me and Michelle can stand here today, “said Obama.

Will we all gain from this prize?
A Norwegian journalist asked this question: How will you use the award and Obama’s answer was:
- It’s a big surprise to get the price. I have no doubt that others might have deserved it more. My task is to continue on a line that is important for the United States and a line that will ensure peace in the world: by fighting against nuclear weapons, combat climate change, creating stability in Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism.
- My goal is not to win a popularity contest or get a price.

There are still pro et contras left and the debate will go on. I think he increases his popularity in Norway and a lot of Norwegians hope he will send some more concretely and committed message to U.N. climate change meeting in Copenhagen.

My wife DianeCA, is an American who have lived in Norway for 10 years. You should also click to read her thoughts about Obama’s visit.
How about you: Did you notice that Obama was in Oslo yesterday – and the reason why?

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In New York, Washington, London, Newcastle, Berlin and more Christmas trees from Norway are lit to celebrate the beginning of advent. In some cities Festival of Trees are organised around the decoration and display of multiple trees as charity events. In these cases the trees represent special commemorative gifts. The tradition has various backgrounds and reasons and some quite old. Let’s start with Norway in itself:

Lighting the Christmas tree the first Sunday in Advent in the local community has a long tradition in Norway. We are going into the darkest period of the year (5 hours of daylight) and need something delightful to look forward to you know

Actually these celebrations are from thousands of years ago: To celebrate their belief in the powers of the Gods, the Norsemen (Vikings) held festivals. The father of the Gods was Odin or Thor, commonly called the Yule Father (Yule referred to the sun).

But back to modern times, Advent and Christmas trees: Above is a picture (click to bigify and enjoy), from our community where the local marching band (with “Nisseluer” = Santa clause hats) playing while parents and siblings are dancing around the tree.

So to share this tradition and to strengthen the friendship bonds, Norway sends Christmas trees all around the world. Here are some of the places:

UK – London and Newcastle:
At Trafalgar Square, the Christmas tree is perhaps the most important symbol of Britain and Norway’s warm relationship. The first tree was brought over in 1947 as a token of Norwegian appreciation of British friendship during the Second World War. When Norway was invaded by German forces in 1940, King Haakon VII escaped to Britain and a Norwegian exile government was set up in London. To most Norwegians, London came to represent the spirit of freedom during those difficult years. From London, the latest war news was broadcast in Norwegian, along with a message and information network which became vital to the resistance movement and which gave the people in Norway inspiration and hope of liberation.

In Newcastle upon Tyne, where the 15 m tall main civic Christmas tree is an annual gift from the city of Bergen, Norway, in thanks for the part played by soldiers from Newcastle in liberating Bergen from Nazi occupation.

US – New York and Washington:
The Tree at Rockefeller Center in New York is an annual Christmas tree erected and lit in early December or late-November, and has been broadcast on NBC in recent years. The tree, usually a Norway spruce 75 to 90 feet (23 to 27 m) tall, has been put up every year since 1931. The tradition began during the Depression-era construction of Rockefeller Center, when workers decorated a small balsam fir tree with “strings of cranberries, garlands of paper, and even a few tin cans”, as recounted by Daniel Okrent in his history of Rockefeller Center.

Norway also annually gifts a Christmas tree to Washington D.C. as a symbol of friendship between Norway and the US and as an expression of gratitude from Norway for the help received from the US during World War II.

Germany – Berlin:
Last Sunday Norwegian Christmas trees where lit at the Pariser Platz at the Brandenburg Gate. This year, the two foreign ministers Jonas Gahr Støre, Guido Westerwelle and the Governing Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit and the mayor of Frogn, Thore Vestby from Norway (where the tree came from) lit the lights of the fir tree and held speeches to mark the 20th anniversary of the event. It’s said that the German foreign minister, Westerwelle even surprised the audience even with a few sentences in Norwegian.

Do you have a Festival of Trees tradition in your local area, or maybe you’ve seen or heard about lightening a Christmas tree from Norway? If so, we would love to hear about it in your comments to this post.

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President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 by The Norwegian Nobel Committee. There have been a lot of reactions of course since this is he world’s most prestigious prize – some positive and some very negative. Since my blog is about Norway and the Nordic countries, I though I should reflect on it (even if I normally don’t post about politics). However, I want us to learn something from my posts, so let’s start with some backgrounds from the committee’s own site:

The Norwegian Committee:
Whereas the other prizes are awarded by specialist committees based in Sweden, the Peace Prize is awarded by a committee appointed by the Norwegian Parliament. According to Nobel’s will, the Peace Prize is to go to whoever “shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”.

The Committee’s reasons for the 2009 Prize:
“…for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons. …. Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. …… The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”

Some reactions from Norwegians:
Jan Egeland (foreign UN’s Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs): “I think this is a great price. I am pleased that the Committee is able to wait until the last second before deciding, because I think that it was Obama’s atomic resolution in New York (September 24, editor’s note), which means the beginning of the end for nuclear weapons, as was decisive here.
It is not naïve to give him the prize; because there is precedent for that we are to inspire action. It can not at least make here is to send a strong signal to those sour grin EBIT explained that sitting on the fence around Europe, and for the portion of a divided American public opinion, which says that Obama is trying to achieve is just a lot of big words.

Nils A. Butenschøn (Norwegian Center for Human Rights): This was very surprising. It’s highly unusual, both that one receives the prize so early in his career, and that the winner does not have as much to show for. It is very early in his political careers. The U.S. president has a major impact internationally, but you still waiting for results. Obama has some initiatives, but we have not seen the results of initiatives. One may wonder if this is the wish of the Nobel Committee to achieve the status it gives to give the award to the U.S. President.

CNNs Jonathan Mann:
There are of course pro & contra about the prize for 2009 as have been for the most of them since 1901. In my opinion; Obama has way to go, but he has created a new climate in international politics and multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position. He also has started the end of the Guantanamo base and stopped the missile defence shield in Europe. What really provoked me about all this reactions however, was what Mann said:

He has for many years to come to Oslo with his CNN team to interview the winner the day before the Awards 10th of December. He did not hide the fact that the Nobel Committee can not be in step with popular opinion, neither the U.S. nor the rest of the world. “For Americans, these people are mostly social democrats and socialists, progressive types. They come from semi-socialist Scandinavian countries and have its own view of the president they love and what a president they do not like” said Mann.

I do hope not all Americans are so narrow-minded that they believe that their form for democracy is the only one which counts. Yes we believe in sharing the wealth (including public health care) and we acknowledge feminism and same sex marriage – if that is too progressive, you’re welcome after. Social democrats are no less democratic, and we are quite happy to be ranked 1st as the best country to live in according to UN’s Human Development Report 2009 so something about the social democratic process must be working quite well

BTW: I have the privilege of being married to a good old American girl, so I have learned quite a bit about American politics over the years. It was a lot of fun informing her that Obama won the Peace Prize today. As most of you know she has a mind of her own, and a blog of her own, hop on over and see what she has to say about the subject.

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