Can you guess what this is?
As we drove the MoHo through far north Norway, following the scenic National Tourist Routes, we came across the tiny island town of Vardo.
To put this into perspective for non Europeans, Vardo sits at a latitude of 70 degrees North.
It's a long way to the top of the EU.
The 70 degree mark takes you about 700 kms inside the Arctic Circle and almost as far as you can drive north. There is no sun seen here for two months in Winter but fortunately for us in Summer there is no dark, just a long twilight and stunning sunsets that merge into sunrises.
By comparison, if you were to travel this far south from Australia you would be standing on Antarctica.
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STEILNESET
Memorial to the Witches burned in Finnmark
The installation we visited was jointly funded by the town of Vardo & the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.
By any standard this is a gem of contemporary design that commemorates the executions of Witches that took place here in the 1600s.
The memorial, consists of two contrasting parts:
A 125 meter wooden structure that supports a fabric cocoon by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor
and
A dark smoked glass cube that contains a magnificent installation by French-American artist Louise Bourgeois
The canvas structure is supported by steel cables and a wooden frame and can be entered at either of the tapering ends via wooden bridges:
Entry to the 100m x 1.5m corridor brings a visceral response that blends many emotions. Elation at the beauty of the structure, insecurity in the near dark and sadness for the victims of the witchcraft trials.
TRIALS
The trials took place all over Europe in the 1600s. In Finnmark 77 local women and 14 men were prosecuted and executed for practicing witchcraft.
On the interior walls of the hallway hang posters that detail the individual victims, their alleged crimes and the resulting punishment.
Most of the persecuted were tried with "witness testimonies" obtained under torture and the outcome of the water ordeal used as evidence of God's judgement.
How would you like to be put to this test?
The accused is thrown into the freezing sea with feet and hands tied. Water, considered a sacred element would repel evil and therefore the accused would rise to the surface and float, indicating guilt.
Guilt was punished in most cases with death by fire at the stake.
Sinking was a sign of innocence.
Each of the 91 victims is also represented by a small window and a dim light which reference the candles seen through the curtainless windows of the regions houses.
Standing in stark contrast is the black glass installation called
"The Damned, The Possessed and The Beloved" (2011)
The semi-open glass structure contains a single chair that burns eternally.
Looking down on the fiery seat are seven large oval mirrors. Like judges circling the condemned and reflecting the horror of the ordeal and the "injustice of an implacable judiciary"
Imagine for a moment that you are GURI OLFSDATTER summoned to the court in a linked trial which resulted in the execution of twelve women:
Brought before the court at Vardohus Castle on 16 February 1621
Accused of practicing witchcraft
Her husband testified that she had but once prayed to the Lord and asked for mercy, during the previous three years, on that one occasion, he was the one who forced her to do so.
Was subjected to the water ordeal and floated
Confessed afterwards:
that she learnt witchcraft from Kirsten Sorensdatter
that she promised to serve the Evil One
that she called her devil Cax
that on Christmas Eve, she attended witches' covens on both Lyderhorn and Ballvollen
that she cast a spell on a citizen of Bergen called Erich Jorgensen
that his ship and its cargo of fish went down, and he himself drowned
that she cast the spell because of an argument about the fish he had taken from her.
Convicted of the practice of witchcraft
Sentenced to death in fire at the stake
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Louise Borgious passed away in 2010 at the age of 98 years.
This was her last major work.
More information on the Steilneset Memorial to the Witches Burned in Finnmark and Vardo can be found at
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Higher resolution copies of these images can be found at my Flickr site:
