Honningsvag's atmospheric North Cape Museum
is small but informative
At the museum, I learnt that Honningsvag Church is
the only building in town which predates the second world war
The touching story of the beloved seadog Bamse
also is recounted in the museum
After I told her I had spent some time onshore at Honningsvag,
a MS Richard With crew member admitted to me that all this time, she
still hadn't figured out what, if anything, was worth checking out in
this northern Norwegian town of slightly less than 5,000 people that
looked quite a bit bigger on a map I was given of it than is actually
the case. And it's true enough that most of the ship passengers who
step ashore at this Hurtigruten port of call do so to board a bus that will take them to the North Cape (Nordkapp in Norwegian).
Rather
than venture out to the part of Norway often billed as the northernmost
point of continental Europe (despite it actually being located on an
island), however, I contented myself with visiting the North Cape
Museum. Even smaller than the local museum I visited at Bodo
and located, unlike it, in a modern building, this museological
establishment is one that I get the feeling that many people are likely
to consider worth checking out -- and especially since its admission fee
is a fairly hefty, considering the insitution's size, 50 kroner.
Being
the museophile that I am though, the North Cape Museum was the
Honningsvag attraction that most caught my eye. And it's out of
honesty, not (just) generosity, that I concluded that it's actually a
rather nice museum, especially given the diminuitive size of not only
the institution itself but the town in which it is located.
Right
from the start, I warmed to the place; not least because of the
welcoming staff members who I met there (one of whom had such a
distinctively British accent that I to learn that she actually was a
local Norwegian resident of the town!). And while checking out the
exhibitions, I liked that the curator(s) had made the point to tell
interesting, heartwarming stories about such as a woman who had refused
to leave her weaving machine (now on display at the museum) when she and
her family were forced to leave town during World War II, and the St
Bernard who became a crew member of a Norwegian naval submarine along
with his owner (and was so beloved that when he fell into the sea once, a
number of seamen jumped into the water to rescue him!).
Although
it's 70 years since the end of World War II, there's little question
that it's still remembered and recounted in these parts; this since the Nazis implemented a "scorched earth" military policy
that saw many communities being laid to waste. To quote the author of
an article on the subject: "almost every single building in
Norway’s vast northern area
from Finnmark in the east to Hammerfest in the west was burned down or
demolished, apart from a few churches."
In
all honesty, to read about the devastation is one thing but to see
photographs of it can be something else and really hammers home the
message, and situation in which many northern Norwegians were put in for
a time. That's my feeling after coming across photos of Honningsvag in
which just one building (the 19th century wooden church which has
remained standing and operational to this day) was left standing for
miles.
On
a happier note: knowing about the terrible devastation gives one a
greater appreciation of Honningsvag -- and many other communities like
it -- being rebuilt and coming back to life after the second world
war. And I also like that the North Cape Museum's exhibits don't stick
to just recounting the past but, also, includes contemporary displays,
such as a current exhibition of photographs by local schoolchildren
focused on the local fishing industry (which now includes king crabs
among their rich bounty). :)
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