Around Scandinavia: Part Eight
In which I explored the Ski Museum
Day Two continues …
Nestled within Oslo’s iconic
Holmenkollen ski jump complex, the Holmenkollen Ski Museum is the world’s
oldest ski museum, contains 4,000 years of skiing history, displays skiers and
skis from the Viking Age, displays equipment used in the polar expeditions of
both Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen.
The bus was parked and we walked
to the entrance of the museum. Our ticket included the museum tour as well as
access to the jump tower and view of the ski arena. The ground floor as usual
had a café and souvenirs shops, etc. We climbed stairs to the first floor,
queued up for the slanted elevator to the jump tower. We alighted from the
elevator, viewed the ski arena and walked up to the observation deck.
The jump tower offers fantastic views of the Oslofjord, the capital and Marka. Mountains such as Blefjell and Norefjell can be seen in the distance.
I was back to the base at 03:45pm
to explore the museum.
The exhibition
starts with Norway's oldest ski find. The ski is approximately 5200 years old,
proving that people were skiing in Norway as early as the Stone Age. The pieces
of wood have traces of fur on the underside. Skis with fur are almost silent in
the snow and therefore well suited for hunting. The ski was found in Drevja in
Nordland.
The exhibition
provides a broad picture of the development of skiing as a leisure activity and
competitive sport throughout the ages.
Snow acts as a kind of climate barometer, a local indicator of global climate change.
This approach
helps us understand how the climate crisis affects people differently - from
milder winters in Norway to far more dramatic consequences in other parts of the
world.
The museum also features an activity exhibit for children called Blåkollen, based on the literary universe by children's author Gudny Ingebjørg Hagen.
The children can play in the caves
where the blue gnomes and the fog trolls reside.
