MUSEUMS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

 

 

A couple of pictures from the fab Tromso museums – and then I'll stop writing about Norway! As I mentioned in today's Scotsman column (30 March) the Norwegians have far more museums than the British – 800 for 4 ½ million people there against 2500 for 55 million people here. They are imaginative, thoughtful and well-funded community centres – not freezing sheds opened every other Wednesday by exhausted volunteers. And even though Tromso is the world's northernmost town, these are not the world's northernmost museums. Kirkenes and Spitsbergen "naturally" have museums too. I like the way these Nordic museums celebrate the small personal things – like the birch bark tar used as chewing gum by a Stone Age child (her teeth marks are visible through the magnifying glass.) And also admire they way they aren't afraid to court controversy. The polar bear picture here helped earn Tromso's Polar Museum a place in the ten worst museums in the world according to the Lonely Planet Guide because of its "celebration" of hunting, killing and trapping animals. Having spent two hours looking round, it's hard to see how people could have survived in the Arctic without hunting. And without other natural resources to exploit, no surprise hunting became a trade and a virility test. Anyway, one thing I wanted to say in the Scotsman diatribe about the Lewis Chessmen, I quite realise the historical society in Uig has said they don't want the Chessmen on permanent display locally. So I'd really like to ask them – WHY NOT?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Gillis Mclean]

Having been to various museums up and down Scotland I have to agree that they are cold and somewhat musty places!!We visited a Bunker last weekend which was interesting if little on the expensive side to get in..sadly the scone and jam I bought in the cafe seemed to have been there too from 1964!!In Arbroath we have the wonderful Signal Tower Museum which is a wealth of local history and a place to go on rainy days,,,as long as its not on Sundays as its shut!!! If Scotlands the place to be in 2009 lets make it worth the visit!