Sjømannsmonumentet
Sailor's Monument
The Sailor's Monument, a national monument of Norwegian seamen's efforts at sea, from the Viking Age to the 20th century, paid for by funds collected and unveiled on June 7, 1950.
In the maritime city of Bergen, it goes without saying that a memorial dedicated to this important and honorable professional group had to be centralized space in the city.
This demand was met in full when the municipality allowed Dyre Vaas's towering, seven-meter-high sculptural tribute to the sailor's stand to dominate the eastern end of the city's main street, Torgallmenningen.
But many people reacted to the fact that the Sailor Monument here stood a good distance from the right element of seafarers, the sea.
It was only in 1999, almost 50 years after the unveiling, that this objection succeeded to some extent. As part of the extensive renovation of the Torgallmenning completed this year, a large water pool was built around the monument. After this, 12 tough sailors, cast in bronze, were able to reflect in the water. Waves around the monument, on the other hand, only criticize the location and the artistic design that has created.
The road from idea to realization of the Sailor Monument was very long. The idea was erected as early as 1917 by the Bergen Shipowners' Association and the Bergen Skipperforening, which wanted a memorial to war-lost seafarers.
Sofus Madsen undertook to make a draft based on this wish, but it was rejected.
It was concluded that the monument should express a general tribute to the sailor's stand rather than dwell especially on the victims of the war.
In 1938, open competition was announced, and a total of 45 drafts came in. The winner was "The Trial of Happiness", submitted by the telemarketing Dyre Vaa.
Because of the war, it was 12 years before the monument could be unveiled. The honorable assignment was left to the then Minister of Industry Lars Evensen.
The result was a startling, but controversial, sculptural account of Norwegian shipping, expressed in the form of 12 burly sailor statues and high above them eight reliefs on two heights that contribute with further knowledge.
Four centuries of Norwegian maritime history pass revue on the monument's equally numerous sides.
The tenth century is presented as "Vinland's journey", and the statues depict a chieftain with a spear, a skull in leather skins and a berserk with a shield on his back. The reliefs show a Viking ship under sail and a meeting between Vikings and Indians.
The eighteenth century, "Greenland's journey", is symbolized by a scouting fisherman, a full-fledged captain in the process of giving orders and a sailor with a pipe in his mouth.
The reliefs are related to Greenland's rediscovery from Bergen. You see Hans Egede preaching the Christian gospel to the Eskimos and a stack drain with a sea worm bowing under the ship.
On the panel for the nineteenth century, with the inscription "Kornferd", you see a ship with a top hat, a first-time boy and a pilot. The reliefs depict whaling and scenes from a shipyard.
The twentieth century has the inscription “Oljeferd”, and the sculptures depict a deck boy, a helmsman with binoculars and a wrench machinist. The reliefs depict a ship in front of a rising sun and a resurrection scene. Drowned awakened to eternal life by an angel.
As models, Dyre Vaa did not use seafarers, but people from his community. Several Telemark farmers from that time must have been easily recognizable. The artist was working on the monument throughout the war. In 1944, no less than 25 plaster statues lined up in his studio in Rauland. The number was subsequently more than halved. A very rich memorial must be said to be the Seamen's Monument, a work of art that alone is an entire art exhibition.
Sjømannsmonumentet
Sailor's Monument
The Sailor's Monument, a national monument of Norwegian seamen's efforts at sea, from the Viking Age to the 20th century, paid for by funds collected and unveiled on June 7, 1950.
In the maritime city of Bergen, it goes without saying that a memorial dedicated to this important and honorable professional group had to be centralized space in the city.
This demand was met in full when the municipality allowed Dyre Vaas's towering, seven-meter-high sculptural tribute to the sailor's stand to dominate the eastern end of the city's main street, Torgallmenningen.
But many people reacted to the fact that the Sailor Monument here stood a good distance from the right element of seafarers, the sea.
It was only in 1999, almost 50 years after the unveiling, that this objection succeeded to some extent. As part of the extensive renovation of the Torgallmenning completed this year, a large water pool was built around the monument. After this, 12 tough sailors, cast in bronze, were able to reflect in the water. Waves around the monument, on the other hand, only criticize the location and the artistic design that has created.
The road from idea to realization of the Sailor Monument was very long. The idea was erected as early as 1917 by the Bergen Shipowners' Association and the Bergen Skipperforening, which wanted a memorial to war-lost seafarers.
Sofus Madsen undertook to make a draft based on this wish, but it was rejected.
It was concluded that the monument should express a general tribute to the sailor's stand rather than dwell especially on the victims of the war.
In 1938, open competition was announced, and a total of 45 drafts came in. The winner was "The Trial of Happiness", submitted by the telemarketing Dyre Vaa.
Because of the war, it was 12 years before the monument could be unveiled. The honorable assignment was left to the then Minister of Industry Lars Evensen.
The result was a startling, but controversial, sculptural account of Norwegian shipping, expressed in the form of 12 burly sailor statues and high above them eight reliefs on two heights that contribute with further knowledge.
Four centuries of Norwegian maritime history pass revue on the monument's equally numerous sides.
The tenth century is presented as "Vinland's journey", and the statues depict a chieftain with a spear, a skull in leather skins and a berserk with a shield on his back. The reliefs show a Viking ship under sail and a meeting between Vikings and Indians.
The eighteenth century, "Greenland's journey", is symbolized by a scouting fisherman, a full-fledged captain in the process of giving orders and a sailor with a pipe in his mouth.
The reliefs are related to Greenland's rediscovery from Bergen. You see Hans Egede preaching the Christian gospel to the Eskimos and a stack drain with a sea worm bowing under the ship.
On the panel for the nineteenth century, with the inscription "Kornferd", you see a ship with a top hat, a first-time boy and a pilot. The reliefs depict whaling and scenes from a shipyard.
The twentieth century has the inscription “Oljeferd”, and the sculptures depict a deck boy, a helmsman with binoculars and a wrench machinist. The reliefs depict a ship in front of a rising sun and a resurrection scene. Drowned awakened to eternal life by an angel.
As models, Dyre Vaa did not use seafarers, but people from his community. Several Telemark farmers from that time must have been easily recognizable. The artist was working on the monument throughout the war. In 1944, no less than 25 plaster statues lined up in his studio in Rauland. The number was subsequently more than halved. A very rich memorial must be said to be the Seamen's Monument, a work of art that alone is an entire art exhibition.