Alesund

Alesund

Alesund

I think the time has maybe come to tell you of some of the more interesting aspects of our holiday in Norway.

Today I will start with Ålesund. At this point the Fox was still well, though tired. We set off eagerly from the ship to look round the town. The highlight I had chosen for the visit was going to the Jugendstil Senteret (Art Nouveau Centre).

When we got there, we were told we would have to wait so would we like to go to the KUBE contemporary art museum while we were waiting.  It is just around the corner & the entry is included in the entry for the Jugendstil museum.

We’d just got to the KUBE when a woman came running up to apologise for the fact that the stair-lift had broken down so we wouldn’t be able to see the upper floor of the Jugendstil. Would we like our money back?  On discovering that the “Time Machine” at the Jugendstil would be accessible - & that was the prime interest at the Jugendstil - & the art gallery was too we opted to continue our visit.

I’m pleased we did. The exhibition at the KUBE was on the theme of the sea, its importance, political as well as for fishing, & our polluting of it. Some of the exhibit still haunt me even now.

On the main wall as you entered the gallery was an installation of about 20 videos of about different important international people talking about the sea. One of these videos was of Mussolini. Much as I couldn’t follow his Italian his body language instantly made me think of the current US president Donald Trump. The way he struts & throws his arms around, the jut of the chin, the belligerence of eye. It had never struck me before.  Even now, as Trump crossed over into North Korea yesterday I saw Mussolini.

Other exhibits included a net made from remains of rubber boats etc. used by migrants as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in more recent times.  Another one tried to imagine the sort of creatures that might have evolved in the oceans if the seas were as polluted as they are today, creatures incorporating bits of plastic etc. in their bodies.

 

Jugendstil Senteret

After spending quite a while in the KUBE, we went on to the “Time Machine” in the Jugendstil Senteret. This essentially told the story of the devastating fire that almost wiped out Ålesund in the winter 1904. Like most Norwegian towns the principle building material was, & still is, wood.  The fire spread rapidly through the buildings. Over 10,000 people had to run from their homes in the middle of a cold windy January night.  The museum gave dramatised readings of eyewitness accounts of that horrific night. After the fire had died down,

Money poured in from the world, especially Kaiser Wilhelm II to help rebuild the city. This was the time Art Nouveau style was in fashion. Even today art nouveau dominates the buildings of today. The “Time Machine” gave you the story of the rebuild too.

Typical art nouveau decoration