Norway: Nordic Cities VIII – Lillehammer

Another great place is just ahead. It is Maihaugen, an exceptional open iar museum which was opened in 1904 already. It was founded b Anders Sandvig, a Norwegian doctor who also collected folk art. Basically, it is a town-size project of 150 historical buildings. Very pleasant and suprising is the fact that this museum lives. There live people in almost every house. They welcome you like a proper guest  and tell you how they live there and how they win their bread. When there was a project to open an open air museum in Roznov pod Radhostem they came to Maihaugen to learn.

First of all we need to visit the church. A lady welcomes us in front of a Viking church. She invites us in. We all sit on benches and hear her lecture. The church was moved here from anotherp lace. Originally, it was of rectangle shape. It consisted of the central part of the structure as you can see it today. There were no windows, no lighting. Masses were conducted in latin. Nobody understood it and it took only 30 minutes. Once Norway fell under Danish rule two windowed sides were adde to the church. It became lutheran. Masses now took 2-3 hours. When the church was being move onto its current location much of its equipment was damaged or got lost. What you can see today is gathered from many other places.

Once we leave the church, we go on to the farm. We find a cozy wooden house. Inside, there sits a mother with her two children. They make something. We sit at the table and listen stories of the past. We learn that there used to be a summer and a winter house at farms. The summer house used to be much larger – an entire family had to fit inside including farm workers. They all ate at one table. Only the farmer and his family slept at cabin. The girl and farm workers slape with the cattle. We learn what they ate, drank, how the life on the far went. Then we can see the entire farm for ourselves, including cowshed. Local school is another quite great experience. The teacher is waiting for us in front of the building. We talk about different pronounciation of Norwegian vowels. Girls sit to the right of the class room, boys to the left. The lecture begins. The teacher writes everything on the board. Then she tests us. At the third attempt, it seems we were quite successful. So we sing along some Czech song and the lecture comes to a close. Our guide looks really authentic. We have enjoyed it alright.

We go slightly uphill until we reach the pond. Then we go to the newest part. Well, newer. There are early 20th-century houses. First of all, I though I don't need to go inside. Fortunately, I had changed my mind. It was wonderful in there. Furniture, kitchen equipment. Everything reminds me of my childhood.

We go down the vilalge. It is more and more beautiful. There is also good smelling pastry shop, important drug store, post office, and train station. Somewhere, there are living people, somewhere figurines. To enjoy the atmosphere, I order local specialty - delicious waffles with home-made marmelade and sour creme.

Time goes really fast and we need to get on the road again. We are about to travel 7 hours to  Stockholm. We should reach Ängby no later than 10 p.m.

GPS: 61°06'51.4"N 10°27'58.1"E

Text and photos: Magdaléna Radostová