SB Day 7: Vardø … Steilneset Minnested

We had 55 minutes — make that 45 minutes with the 10-minute all aboard deadline — to see what Vardø offered … the town itself, a fortress, and a memorial site.

I wanted to see it all. But of course that was not possible in the allotted time. Not to the degree that we could do them justice anyway. So, Mui and I decided to split and conquer. He would go to the fortress … I would go to the memorial.

Even with this plan, we had to walk at a hard clip to complete our visits. Luckily, the route to get to both was clearly signed, so we managed to find the places easily enough … even if there was some huffing and puffing where the streets suddenly developed a bit of an incline.

“Minnested” is a Norwegian word that translates as a place of remembrance/commemmoration. In this case, Steilneset Minnested is a place of remembrance for the people who were accused, tried, and killed during the witch hunts between 1600 and 1692. In total, there were 111 women and 24 men who were prosecuted … most living in Vardø, Vadsø, and other nearby towns. Of these people, 91 were executed … 77 women and 14 men. Of them, 25 were Sámi; the rest were Norwegian.

One of the ‘tests’ to determine whether a person was a witch involved throwing the accused into the sea with their hands and feet tied. You see, water being considered a sacred element, was believed would repel evil … thus the ‘guilty’ would rise to the surface and float, while the ‘innocent’ would sink. Court records show that a third of all who were executed were submitted to this ‘test’ — torture, really — and each and every one of them floated … sealing their fate.

Eastern Finnmark burned more”witches” at the stake than anywhere else in Norway. The memorial was erected near the place that is presumed to be the site of the executions. Consisting of a 442-foot (135m) long memorial hall and a glass pavilion, the memorial was unveiled by Queen Sonja of Norway in 2011.

When I first saw the memorial, I thought it was meant to represent a stake that had been razed. I later read that its shape is inspired by the traditional racks used to dry fish in the region. The structure within the frame is made of fabric. Inside the hall, the walls on either side of the narrow corridor are lined with panels of text … one for each person accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death. The texts, as I understand it, were taken from court records. ( I transcribed two of them for legibility to share in this footprint.)

I almost skipped the glass pavilion, fearing that I would be late returning to the ship. But decided to double-time it instead … so glad I did. Within the glass cube is an installation named “The Damned, the Possessed, and the Beloved.” It consists of a metal chair with flames coming out of the seat … a ring surrounds it. The flames are reflected in seven oval mirrors … like so many judges circling the condemned.

A well thought out memorial and thought provoking. I would like to have spent more time there, but the ship beckoned.

Walking back at a steady clip, I couldn’t resist a few photo ops along the way. But mostly I was focused on getting back before the ship sailed … which I did … with about five minutes to spare!Read more