bildekarusell
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Dec. 16, 2022One of the most spectacular findings in Norwegian archeology – the gold plated buckle dated 200 years pre-Viking Age. The buckle which was a part of a sword belt is decorated with garnets and a beautiful motif. Can you spot the man’s face with a crown, the birds and the boar? C4901.
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Dec. 16, 2022The belt plate from Vestre Evang on Toten in the Inland is one of the finest Bronze Age jewellery we have in the collection. It was found in a large burial mound around 1870. Probably the buried was a woman, who lived once between 1500 and 1300 BC. The belt plate is approx. 13 cm in diameter, and on the back, there is a small loop. The plate is decorated with spirals and sun symbols. The fine and precise lines show that the jewellery was made by a master blacksmith. Belt plates can be compared to today's National costume jewellery, and were worn in the belt on the women's suit. In 1971, almost 3300 years later, the belt plate from Evang was recreated as a jewellery needle for the Toten traditional costume. C5573.
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Dec. 16, 2022The two bronze bucks are part of the richest find from the Norwegian Bronze Age. They were found together with other bronze objects in Lunner in Hadeland in 1925, probably buried as a sacrifice to the gods. The objects are dated to 700-500 BC. In the Bronze Age, people began to use metal, namely bronze, for the first time. Bronze was probably not that common, but was used for special ritual and religious objects, and to show off your high status. From the pictorial world of the Bronze Age, we know that many figures are composed of parts of different animals, such as horses, birds, snakes - and humans. The bronze bucks from Vestby are such a hybrid or complex animal: bucks with horse heads. Today we do not know exactly what this meant, but we believe that the religion and worldview one had in the Bronze Age was characterized by animism – that everything in nature has a soul. From the exhibition Control – attempting to tame the world, opening soon. C23651.
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Dec. 16, 2022Drinking glasses were not commonplace in the Iron Age, so those who were fortunate enough to own such valuables took good care of them. There was no glass production in Scandinavia, so the glasses came from far away; from the Black Sea region, the Continent and eventually also from England. Should the worst happen anyway – that someone dropped a glass on the floor and it broke, it was carefully repaired. This glass goblet is repaired with decorated and gold-plated silver fittings. Such repairs were difficult and required expertise. A specialized craft centre for glass repairs probably existed in the southwest of Norway. The glass may already have been 100 years old when it was repaired sometime in the first half of the 6th century AD. Repaired glass cup from Snartemo in Vest-Agder. C26001.
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Dec. 16, 2022The gold spur from Rød is among the most spectacular of all artefacts from the Viking Age in Norway, and is the only one of its kind in Scandinavia. It is covered with intricate patterns in filigree gold bead thread and soldered gold grains and depicts animals and patterns in the Viking Age Borre style. The work is incredibly detailed. It was probably made by a Scandinavian jeweller in the last half of the 10th century. The spur was found in 1872 on the farm of Rød in Rygge during ploughing, together with a gold fitting. 45 years later, a second fitting was discovered in the same field. No trace of a grave was found, and the other spur has never been found. See the objects in the exhibition VÍKINGR. C5905, C5906, C22406.
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Dec. 16, 2022The notion that all Vikings, women and men, young and old, wore helmets with horns is alive and well in popular culture. Nevertheless, that was not the case. Only two relatively complete helmets from the Viking Age have been discovered and they have no sign of ever having had horns. The Viking helmet from Gjermundbu has protection for the eyes and nose, at the bottom of the helmet there are marks after attachment for metal plates or chain mail that have hung as protection for the neck. But zero horns. There is evidence that a helmet or similar headgear with a kind of horn has been used at Viking ceremonies. The Oseberg textiles are decorated with figures wearing horned helmets. On the other hand, the Vikings did not wear horns on helmets used in combat, which would have reduced mobility and increased instability. The Gjermundbu helmet is on exhibition in VÍKINGR. C27317.
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Dec. 16, 2022This Madonna statue originally comes from Hovland Stave Church in Eggedal. The old stave church was demolished in 1881 and three sculptures were therefore given to the museum by local authorities. One of these is this Mary with the child, or a “Madonna”. Mary had an enormous significance in the development of the popular, religious life of the Middle Ages. She has been a main motif in ecclesiastical painting, especially icon painting, but also painting more generally. The Madonna figure is dated to 1160-1200, and is made of alder and birch. Height: 56.7 cm. Width: 21 cm. Depth: 13.6 cm. C10785.
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Dec. 16, 2022"Halha · a snalt þenan" says the inscription on this spindle-whorl of stone. In classical Old Norse this sounds Helga á snáld þenna, meaning “Helga owns this spindle-whorl”. The word snáldr refers to the spindle-whorl, still known in some Norwegian dialects as “snåld”. The inscription is from the late Viking Age or early Middle Ages. The object was found in the 1950s by teacher Jon T. Uppstad under the old smokehouse at Uppstad farm in Valle, Norway. Spindle-whorls were a common tool in the spinning of thread. Several runic inscriptions are known on spindle-whorls from Scandinavia and elsewhere. In this manner people could mark the practical tools in their everyday life. Runic signum: N 582. C28808.
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Dec. 16, 2022This painted tabernacle wing from Fåberg, Oppland, portrays St. Peter with the keys of Heaven. His bright appearance on the red background is strengthened by a halo around his head, and delicate bands of curvy plant ornamentation on blue background. The exceptional painting of St. Peter is on the exterior of the door of a closed shrine. Through him, people could learn to know the Heavenly pleasures. The inside of the door holds traces of relief figures expressing motifs from Mary’s life, which may indicate that a sculpture of Mary may have appeared as the central figure in the tabernacle. The painted door panel dates to the mid-thirteenth century and is extra-ordinary both in style and in quality. The door panel has recently been on loan for the exhibition North & South: European masterpieces reunited at the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht, the Netherlands (October 2019 - January 2020), and then at the Episcopal Museum of Vic in Barcelona, Spain (February 2020-September 2020). C3006.
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Dec. 16, 2022This beautiful basalt stone ax was found at the end of the 18th century in Fiskumvannet in Øvre Eiker municipality. A farmer fishing with nets in the lake pulled up a “rock” that had been stuck in the net instead of a good catch. The ax was sent to the University's Antiquities Collection in 1853, and since then it has been recognized as the most beautiful battle-ax from the middle part of the Neolithic, well over 4500 years ago. It is tempting to think that the ax was not accidentally lost, but that it was intentionally lowered into deep water. The Fiskum ax differs from other axes because it is exceptionally well preserved and very elaborate. For these reasons, we can assume that Fiskumøksa may be a sacrificial find from the Neolithic. The ax is 18.6 cm long. C1836.
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Dec. 16, 2022The Sword – Warrior’s pride
We have roughly 3,000 swords from the Viking Age in Norway, and most come from graves that also contain other weapons. The swords vary from simple home-forged blades to ornate swords with intricate patterns and hilts decorated with precious metals. Swords with the inscriptions VLFBERHT or INGELRII probably came from workshops in southern Germany. The inscriptions may be a type of trademark. The Old Norse myths tell of swords made by dwarves and which possessed magical power. The sagas describe how mighty swords were passed down from one generation to the next. From left: C20317 from Steinsvik in Nordland, C24217 from Risvold in Telemark, 800-850; C257 from Hedmark, 900s.; C28352 from Momrak in Telemark, 950-1000, C11014 from Kilde in Hedmark, 800s.
