Stavanger, Norway- 3 of 5 Harbor & Older

We saw the “Broken Column”, 23 identical rusty steel men sculptures mounted outdoors and indoors in public, based on a cast of the artists’, Anthony Gormley, own body. They relate to each other through their elevation above or below sea level and the direction in which they face. The sculpture at the fish market looks out from the harbor and faces 8 degrees west of true north. It is this sculpture that determines the orientation of all the others. The idea is that all the sculptures look out to sea. They are at altitude intervals of 1.95 meters; with the placement of the statues continues down towards the city center. The artist thinks of the sculptures as “uninscribed objects" … they don’t memorialize anyone in particular. Each one simply identifies a human space in space and shifts attention from the intrinsic qualities of the sculptures to the context that contains them. It is an art project that explores its surroundings and through it, we are encouraged to explore and investigate our own surroundings more closely.

We saw the water supply in Stavanger and Lake Breiavatnet (see photos), that always supplied water to the area since 1863 and is now more efficiently filled from Lake Mosvatnet that supplies to the city and then out to sea. This beautiful lake is right in the middle of the city.

We then visited an area with the oldest high school, Kongsgård, specializing in music, dance and drama as well as natural and social sciences, and foreign languages. Many famous artists attended here (including Alexander Kelland). There is an interesting statue in front of Lars Hovland Lende (1882–1971), who lived most of his life in Stavanger where he sold a self-produced magazine he called "Fagamatøren " and an advocate for children, helping them with vocational education and work. He always dressed quite distinctively, so that, he was easily recognized in a larger gathering. He also bought ponies for the children to enjoy by riding and carting. He lived in Old Stavanger, our next stop. He spoke up against child labor and protected children. On Liberation Day, May 8, 1945, Lende hung out a huge Norwegian flag from his living room window on the second floor with his famous saying “Everything for the Kids”.

Gamle “Old” Stavanger is a historic area of the city consists largely of restored wooden houses which were built in the 18th century. After World War II, a new city plan was created for Stavanger including taking down the old wooden buildings in the city and replacing them with new modern structures in concrete. Gamle Stavanger owes its existence to the one person that spoke up against it and saved these beautiful little white structures, Einar Hedén (1916-2001). See the photos of the streets and the neighborhood of 170 white wooden homes which are now a UNESCO site (and home of the Canning Museum).

Looking over the harbor at the end of Old Stavanger, we stopped at the statue of Admiral Thore Horve. who from 1946 to 1949 headed the entire Royal Norwegian Navy. When Nazi Germany attacked Norway in April 1940, Lt. Cdr. Horve was the commander of HNoMS Draug. During the night of April 9, the Horve was watching shipping in the Karmsund (strait in Norway) and found an unknown enemy force in the Oslofjord, leading to the crew being ordered to full combat stations. The ship refused to stop and Draug had to give chase and capture the vessel. After leading the unknown ship into Haugesund, its identity was found to be the 7,624 ton German vessel Main. The two ships soon came under attack from a Luftwaffe bomber around 40 nautical miles (74 km) off the Norwegian coast. The bombs, aimed at the Main, missed but the German captain immediately ordered his crew to abandon ship. Main was sunk and Draug proceeded to the United Kingdom with the German crew as prisoners!!!

Our last stop was outside the impressive Norwegian Petroleum Museum. The museum was built in stone, glass and concrete focuses on offshore petroleum activity especially in the North Sea. The museum shows the technological development from the beginning of the Norwegian oil history in the mid-1960s, from the first North Sea drilling platforms, through steel and concrete platforms developed and built in Norway, to modern, flexible production ships and subsea systems. We did not go in, but admired the outside. Believe it or not, that was just our morning.Read more