History and Art
Our last day in Oslo was divided by two major attractions. We spent the morning at the Norsk Folkemuseum and the afternoon at the Munch Gallery. The open air museum has gallery exhibits and about 160 historic buildings on it's grounds. The one I was most excited about was the Stave Church from the 1200s. Seeing it was one of my biggest goals of coming to Norway. When you stepped out of the sunshine, into the shadows of the church, you could smell the centuries of smoke that permeated the timbers. The door frames and floorboards were worn from countless people, long gone. Seeing one of these churches has been a dream of mine since I first heard about them Stave churches, from the 13th century, have Christian iconography and Norse carvings - gotta hedge your bets, in case this new-fangled religion is just a fad! There was a wonderful exhibit on the Sami people, the reindeer herders of the North, who have a distinct culture from the rest of Norway. We saw many similarities betw...