Re: Fw: Why Grow Other's Seeds?

I had the pleasure of seeing one of the Stave churches while in Norway. It was awe-inspiring.


On Saturday, January 4, 2003, at 10:58 PM, Kris Groberg wrote:

Bill Meyer wrote:


o, what is a Viking ship doing in
Minnesota? I knew they got around, but......
                                             ........Bill Meyer
Some guy had an idea about 20 years ago to recreate the Gokstad ship (circa
890). He did it using the tools and techniques of that era. Then his kids
learned to sail it on Lake Superior, after which they sailed it to Norway.
Norway returned it to Minnesota, where (seriously) it is so honking big that
the city had to build the museum around it. It's a thing of beauty. And then
we acquired a fine replica of a Norwegian stave church (the original built in
1120--pegged together and hand-carved) on the grounds. The replica is
accurate and the product of much work between curators. So we have two
examples of how medieval woodworkers could manage to use Greco-Roman
ship-building techniques to create ships which could navigate long distances
as well as create the architecture for the roofs of wooden churches. The
techniques were quite sophisticated but were cut short by the bubonic plague
which hit Scandinavia mid-1300s. The great Viking shipyards were after that
in Dublin, and forests overtook the remaining stave churches (there are now
28 standing from an original number of [perhaps[ 2,000. There strong Celtic
influence is obvious. Then we acquired a fine Native American collection, and
we have several large galleries for what are called "travelling exhibits".
And our building houses the Chamber of Commerce, a gift shop, a restaurant,
the County Museum and archives, and the senior center. Quite an active place.
Helps to relieve the dreadful winters and horrid spring floods. The locals
say it keeps out the riff-raff.

http://www.hjemkomst-center.com/

P.S. I hate our website.

Kris Groberg, Ph.D.
Curator, Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center
202 First Avenue North
Moorhead, Minnesota 56561-0157, USA
office fax: 218-299-5510
office phone: 218-299-5511 x226
[k*@ci.moorhead.mn.us]

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