Escape to myself

This was a great day out and the weather was beautiful today; a ferry trip to the museum and a wander around this enlightening space. Founded in the 1890s it’s sim is to display Norwegian culture and heritage through buildings and objects. It is a little like our Weald Museum in Sussex and it contains buildings that have been rescued from different areas of Norway and rebuilt on this site. The earliest buildings are from the 1300s and give a real insight into the way of life which continued until the 19th century. An excellent guide gave us a wealth of historical information on agriculture and living conditions. The centrepiece was the Stave Church erected here in the 1880s. It is dated by dendrochronology ti about 1280 and is quite magnificent. The reconstruction here must have been very difficult at that time. The interior has been stripped back to its original state. A masterpiece of the carpenters art. Beautiful carvings and a surprising early mural.

The farmsteads

The museum contains buildings of all periods and includes interiors up to the present day. The interiors of the older farmhouses were fascinating. I loved the turf roofs too. the carvings were really beautiful. In general much of the carvings reminded me of 12th century sculpture in Herefordshire churches and the church mural was reminiscent of early English manuscripts.

A nineteenth century farm