June 7: Art Nouveau in Ålesund
In January 1904, a huge fire ravaged the
burgeoning, wooden town of Ålesund, burning it to the ground. A village that had experienced exponential
growth due its thriving fishing industry was literally reduced to ashes in just
a few hours. We still don’t know how the
fire was started.
If anything could constitute a silver
lining, the construction industry in Norway was beginning to falter. Workers and architects flocked to Ålesund to
quickly rebuild the town. Having the
opportunity to build almost a whole city from scratch, their creativity
blossomed, and they created a town that blended the popular Art Nouveau style
with traditional Viking designs.
Contemporary Ålesund was born.
Braving the rain, we hurried from the
apartment down to a little museum housed in a beautiful old pharmacy. From the gilded, textured wallpaper to the
ornate stained glass windows, we were in heaven.
“We need this in our house,” I said,
pointing at the oak spiral staircase.
“We need this in our house,” Nick said, gesturing
to an ornate cupboard, decorated to look like intertwining trees.
Art Nouveau sea monsters? Yes, please.
We left the museum once we had finished
marveling at the beauty of all the amazing designed objects and architecture,
and made our way to the nearby contemporary art gallery. They were showing works creating at a
residency that illustrated how place can have an affect on the work
created. Definitely feeling that right
now, and it set some gears in motion for my upcoming residency in Iceland.
The rain was starting to clear, so we set
out to explore Ålesund. Bright blue blue
buildings with delicate molding lined the canal, and painted peach trees were a
common motif. Plenty of abstract owls,
fish and serpents appeared throughout the town, and there were many references
to the amazing carvings we had seen on the Viking burial ships and at the Urnes
Stave Church.
Leading out from the church was a long line of wet, trodden flowers. We assumed somebody had just been married and followed the colourful trail through the streets.
If you’re ever popping by Ålesund, the
museum is well worth a visit, and there are guided walks you can do through the
streets. We enjoyed exploring at our
leisure and noticing the motifs and references we’d learned about in the
museum.
The rain was starting to come down thick
and fast again, so we hurried back to the apartment to seek shelter, fry up
some tomatoes and head to bed.
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