Church Art – a Message in Pictures

In the still and dim church interiors of the Middle Ages the performances of belief came to life in the gleam from the wax candles. Here the essential articles of faith were presented, here the church was presented through holy men and holy women and here the events from the Gospels were told: the angels with Maria, the birth of the baby Jesus, the Three Wise Men, the history of the drama of the Passion and the victorious Christ.

Transport and Communication

From “Spearway” to National Highway

Sailing Sloops and Boat Building

Marine activities expanded greatly throughout the 19th century, and provided a livelihood for many people. Fishing and shipping were probably the subsidiary activities which had greatest economic significance throughout the century. Marine activities brought, literally speaking, wind into the sails of many rural districts in Hordaland during that period.

The Wooden Boat

Craftsmanship through two thousand years

The Warp-Weighted Loom- A thousand year tradition in weaving

The art of spinning, the art of weaving and the art of dyeing wool is knowledge which has been an important resource in the natural household for several thousand years. And the art of weaving still fascinates new generations.

The Artist and his Experience of Nature

På ferd mot vest over Hardangervidda opplever vi det dramatiske panoramaet når vidda går over i djupe bergkløfter og høge fossefall – eit utsyn som har fascinert kunstnarane.

The Precambrian Era and Precambrian basement rocks

Almost nothing is as solid, unchangeable and stable as the Norwegian Precambrian basement rocks. Here, there are no volcanic eruptions or violent earthquakes that can cause natural catastrophes. But, it has not always been that way! There have been periods when glowing hot lava flowed over it or when large parts of the Precambrian basement have "taken a beating", both in Precambrian times and during the Caledonian mountain-building event.

Hordaland as high as the Himalayas- the Caledonian mountain chain

The Himalaya Mountain Chain is being formed by the Indian continental plate colliding w the Asian continent. This happens because the earth’s continental plates are constantly moving in relation to each other. Sometimes they crash together and form large collision zones or mountain chains. The collision between India and the Asian continent has created the world's highest mountain and thickest continental crust. But the creation of the Himalaya mountain chain is essentially just a repeat of what happened more than 400 million years ago when Western Norway and Greenland collided and formed the Caledonian mountain range. That mountain-building event caused quite dramatic changes in topography, climate and crustal thickness, and resulted in both volcanism and a lot of earthquake activity. In addition,

The mountain chain disappears – and the dinosaurs arrive!

The Caledonian mountain chain is an example of how plate movements and continental drift can cause collisions and the upheaval of huge mountain chains. After the horizontal compressional forces ceased, the forces of gravity, wind and water took over and started the process of eroding away the mountain chain. But, nearer to our time the land rose up again to a plateau landscape in the east which slanted down toward the ocean in the west!