Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature Knut Hamsun, rock carvings, Vikings and World War II fill the area with interesting stories.
Knut Hamsun, lived here, and many of his books are strongly influenced by his surroundings. Hamsun’s childhood home, rural and other museums, galleries and old trading centres tell about life in the Realm of Hamsun. With beautiful churches, lighthouses, music and fishing festivals and many market days, the Realm of Hamsun offers a variety of exciting adventures.
Stetind – Norway’s national mountain
Stetind in Tysfjord is a majestic natural landmark with its extremely characteristic shape in the beautiful Northern Norwegian fjord landscape.
With a height of 1,392 m directly from the fjord, Norway’s national mountain, also called “God’s anvil”, juts out like an obelisk in the mountain wilds. You may go on family-friendly walks to spots in the “lower” parts of the mountain – or complete the lofty ascent accompanied by a local guide. Stetind also offers stern pleasures for experienced mountain climbers.
Hamarøyskaftet
Hamarøyskaftet is one of the most distinctive mountain peaks in the county of Nordland. This is not one of Nordland’s highest mountains, but what a rise! Do not be put off by your first impression of the mountain; it looks pretty unapproachable. The hike to the summit is an enjoyable and relatively basic climb.
Rago National Park – wild and inaccessible mountain area
Rago National Park is characterised by wild, majestic mountain landscape with deep crevices and large boulders. Rare mountain plants may be found in an otherwise inferior flora. The wolverine regularly shelters here, while the lynx is a dispersal-resident animal. Rago borders the Swedish national parks Padjelanta, Sarek and Stora Sjöfallet, which collectively covers 5,700 square kilometres, making it one of the largest protected areas in Europe.
The island of Engeløya – a guided tour in the Realm of Iron Age chieftains
“The Viking” guides guests through some of the richest archaeological areas in Northern Norway. Visit Bygdetunet, Prestegårdshagen, Steigen Medieval Church and Batterie Dietl. Outdoor dining at Vollmoen if desired. White-tailed sea eagle safaris by express boat in Norway’s most abundant white-tailed sea eagle areas can also be arranged.
Tranøy
Tranøy is the place where the young Hamsun experienced the real Sirilund. Deeply and proudly rooted in cultural history, Tranøy now welcomes you to happy holidays and artistic delights. Here you will find galleries, a sculpture park, a chapel, food and drink, a marina, a shop and accommodation.
The Arran Lule Sami Centre
A national centre featuring a museum and exhibitions about . Learn about the culture, language, history and ethnicity of the Sami, Norway’s indigenous population, at the Arran Lule Sami Centre.
The Knut Hamsun Centre
The Knut Hamsun Centre is located by the banks of Glimma in Hamarøy, in a cultural landscape surrounded by majestic nature. The scenery surrounding the centre is almost as pristine as in the famous Norwegian author Hamsun’s days.
From the tall tower of the centre you may enjoy a unique view of Hamsun’s own realm, which inspired him to write world-renowned books such as Pan, Growth of the Soil (for which he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920) and Vagabonds.
The Knut Hamsun Centre is part of Nordlandsmuseet, which offers numerous experiences and attractions in the Realm of Hamsun. Visit Skogheim, Knut Hamsun’s childhood home in Hamsund, where the author also lived with his family for a period of his adult life. Walk the pathway Hamsunstien from Hamsund to Presteid and visit Hamarøy Folk Museum with exhibitions and authentic Hamarøy environments from Hamsun’s era.
Batterie Dietl – a coastal fort from World War II
Experience one of Europe’s largest coastal fortifications from World War II. Three of the world’s largest guns were here firing shells with a diametre of 40.6 centimetres. The fortifications guarded the entrance to the Vestfjord and the important route to Narvik, from where iron ore from Sweden was shipped to the German arms industry.
One of the bunkers has been converted to an interesting museum with restored ammunition- and machine-rooms. The bunker is an eerie but impressive construction with walls up to three and a half metres thick. The exhibition describes the daily lives of the soldiers and prisoners of war, the forced labour, and, last but not least, the lot of the local people of Engeløya during the war years.
The crofter’s cottage at Kjelvik
Kjelvik is situated at the top of a hill below a woody ridge. Time has more or less stood still here since the last occupant passed away in 1967. Here you can experience an authentic croft through the original tools, furnishings and clothes found in the old buildings. Get hold of the rake handle. Go in the smithy and pick up the blacksmith’s tongs. Go in to the small rooms and try to imagine how they managed without running water and electricity.
Tags: hamsund, knut hamsun, norway
When it comes to design, Norway has always been overshadowed by its Scandinavian neighbours. London Design Festival is its chance to shine.
One of the new Norwegian icons is the award-winning Oslo Opera House, which will be the centrepoint of an expansive urban development plan in the city?s waterfront Bjørvika area Photo: PHILIP SINDEN
We’re having a Norwegian moment. The past 15 years have seen the country transform itself from the poor relation of the Nordic family of nations to one of the richest countries in the world. Thanks in no small part to its abundance of North Sea gas and oil supplies, its economy remains strong in the face of the recession. With the support of a forward-thinking government, its design and architectural industries are thriving domestically and abroad; while in fashion, the Norwegian Peter Dundas is now the creative director of Pucci, and his compatriot Siv Støldal is one of the most highly regarded menswear designers working in London.
For some, the icing on the cake came earlier this year when Norway’s elfin songwriter Alexander Rybak won the Eurovision Song Contest. He even managed a British top-10 hit with his fiddle-riddled Fairytale. Slowly, the clichés of Norwegian imagery and identity – the fjord and the fisherman – are being replaced by architectural marvels and pop stars.
During the London Design Festival, the city will host three shows dedicated to Norwegian design. The largest, 100% Norway, is in its sixth year. With the support of the Royal Norwegian Embassy and the Norwegian Design Council, it brings together more than 20 designers and manufacturers. One of its curators is Wallpaper* magazine’s senior editor, Henrietta Thompson, who explains why there is a new focus on Norwegian design and why it has taken so long to happen. ‘Norway doesn’t have the history of producing Aaltos and Jacobsens that Finland and Denmark have,’ she says.
‘These countries took pride in this heritage and invested in design, and the result was a younger generation that was inspired.’ As the world took notice, a universal definition of Scandinavian design was created, of which Norway became a mere footnote.
‘There was still a strong design movement,’ Thompson continues, ‘but Norway was busy concentrating on other things, such as small, family-run companies producing for a local market rather than for export. It’s not until recently that the Norwegians have thought, “We can do it, too.” It’s a coming of age.’
A German sociologist once referred to Norway as ‘Europe’s biggest folk museum but simultaneously a huge laboratory of the future’, and that is a useful description for much of the work being featured in Thompson’s show.
Although many of the designers take advantage of the latest innovations in materials and processes, there are consistent links to the past and references to nature.
Take the lighting designs of Cathrine Kullberg, who works with impossibly thin strips of blond birch veneer – a material more commonly used to make kits for model planes. She draws scenes of forest life on her computer and then has the images laser-cut into the wood, which is rolled into a drum-shaped shade.
The magic ingredient is the light; when the lamp is turned on, the shade glows and the singed edges of the trees and birds take on a three-dimensional effect.
Tore Brustad is a partner in the Oslo-based design consultancy Permafrost, a four-man outfit whose portfolio has included brand identities for anti-ageing systems and motorcycle companies.
It is modern, graphic and urban stuff, but what is interesting is the direction that Permafrost has taken with its own collection of products, called Stories by Permafrost. As the name suggests, they are designs with a narrative, but the scenarios portrayed are always encounters within nature. Silence is a circular white carpet with rabbit-paw prints cut into the ’snow’, John Deere is a green rug featuring the heavy tread of a tractor, and Bear Hug is made up of bear-shaped rugs that work independently or slot together.
‘Nature is unavoidable in Norway,’ Brustad says. ‘Even if you take some skateboarding kid in Oslo who’s into graffiti, he would still love the outdoors – skiing and climbing trees. It’s what we do.’
Two further shows next week are dedicated to the country’s creativity. Made in Bergen will showcase six designers based in Norway’s westernmost city, and around the corner will be Norwegian Prototypes – experimental pieces by the country’s up-and-coming stars. Take a look around – there may well be a Norwegian Aalto, Panton or Jacobsen among them.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/interiorsandshopping/6197619/London-Design-Festival-2009-Northern-lights.html
Tags: Architecture, norway, norwegian design
The Knut Hamsun Center, located in Hamarøy, Norway and designed by Steven Holl Architects, will open to the public on August 4, 2009 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Knut Hamsun’s birth. Dedicated to Norway’s most inventive twentieth-century writer and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, the 2700- square-meter center is located above the Arctic Circle by the village of Presteid of Hamarøy, near the farm where Hamsun grew up. The building includes exhibition areas, a library and reading room, a café, and an auditorium for museum and community use.
Influenced by Hamsun’s explorations of the intricacies of the human mind, the building is conceived as an archetypal and intensified compression of spirit in space and light, and as the realization of a Hamsun character in architectonic terms. Inspired by passages of Hamsun’s texts, there is an “empty violin case” deck, while a viewing balcony is like the “girl with sleeves rolled up polishing yellow panes.”
The concept for the museum, “Building as a Body: Battleground of Invisible Forces,” is realized from both inside and out. The wood exterior is punctuated by hidden impulses piercing through the surface. The spine of the building body, constructed from perforated brass, is the central elevator. The board form concrete structure with stained white interiors is illuminated by diagonal rays of sunlight calculated to ricochet through the section on certain days of the year.
The tarred black wood exterior skin alludes to Norwegian Medieval wooden stave churches, and in the roof garden, long chutes of bamboo refer to traditional Norwegian sod roofs.
Designed in 1994, the building has survived Norwegian controversy with over 300 local articles. In 2005, the original design was reinstated with the support and dedication of Alf Einar Øien and Aaslaug Vaa and in close collaboration with Oslo-based LY Arkitekter. The realized building embodies all the original design concepts and includes the addition of a community auditorium. The auditorium is connected to the main building via a passageway accessed through the lower lobby, which takes advantage of the natural topography, allowing for natural light along the circulation route.
http://www.e-architect.co.uk/norway/knut_hamsun_center.htm
Tags: Architecture, Knut Hamsun Center
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