Different churches

Hey everyone!

This post is going to be focuss in many trips that we have made. During the course we have visited many churches in different localizations of Nordland. But, athough there are thousand of kilometers from each other, many of them have common characteristics, such as:

The Romanic style inside

Many of the churches has round arches, characteristic of the romanic style.

The alterpieces

As we can see, all of them have baroque style: the colors take more importance (red, blue) and the gold is used. We can see aswell that in some of them the columns look like marble, but actually are made of wood; That is because the painter was looking for more reality.Appart from that, they have more than one dimensions and the same process: The last dinner in the first dimension, Jesus crucified in the second and finally, Jesus ascending to the heaven. One interesting information is that many years ago in Bodin Church, the ceiling was lower and in consequence, people couldn't see Jesus reaching peace. So, probably they didn't know how was the last part of the alter and they could just imagine it.

Boats hanging in the ceiling

Herøy church

Gildeskål

Bodin Church

The boats are an element that many churches have. One special thing is that there are sailing against the East, because God is in the East. I guess that all of them have a small story. For example, the boat in Bodin Church is a replica of the Ana Carolina, which sailed from Lofoten to Bergen for the fishtrade. The case of Herøy Church's boat is different; This time the priests' sons made a trick and the priest got so angry that he banned the entry to the church to them and to all their familiars. The familiars decided to make a present (the boat) to get the forgiveness of the priest. However, they didn't get it until 1894.

To end with this post, I made a little surprise for you. I tried to do my best, so I hope you like it :)

The norwegian aviation museum

The norwegian aviation museum is located in Bodo (the North of Norway) and it was opened in 1994. It was an amazing place, where you could find many different types of planes that were part of the military and civil aviation of Norway. So, all those planes are directly related with history. The distribution of the museum consist on the main entrance, a restaurant, a coffeshop and two huge rooms full of different planes and information about history. Unfortunately, all the information is in Norwegian, but the good thing is that is visual. So, when we arrive to the museum I had the feeling that I wanted to see everything and luckily, we met a man that told us many information about different planes: The material used, the purpose of the construction of the plane and the function in the history. Apart from that, the museum organizes many activities and not just for old people. There is also activities arranged for children: On the one hand, they celebrate birthday parties, which mean that the child can enjoy a good time and by the way, he will learn about history. On the other hand, I was surprised the they have educational programmes adapted to kindengarten.

Traditional norwegian house

Hello everyone!

The second day of our trip in Helgeland we saw a traditional norwegian museum-house, where you could find all kind of old fashion objects from the 19th century. So, it was a tipical building from Nordland and inside there were tematic rooms, that is to say, each room of the house was focuss in one action of the daily life. 

We started the visit eaitng our lunch and handmade bread in a cozy room, that was part of the museum. That meal gave me the energy that I needed to concentrate in the museum. We started in the kitchen, where I saw all kind of kitchen tools that normally nowadays you can find, but this ones were from many years ago. We continue with the living room, children's room, a small classroom and so on. It was amazing to see all the old tools that they used for the daily life. It is a really complete museum that takes you to another century and that way you can make and idea of how the society was like or how they lived many years ago, when tecnologies were not used.

Kitchen

Kitchen tools

Classroom

Underwear

Underwear

Children's room

Medicines

At first I was afraid I would not like it and my motivation was not really high, but little by little I started to have more and more interest and at the same time my motivation rised up: I wanted to see all the tools that I could and I wanted to know all their uses. On the one hand, this visit made me think in the importance of the interest and the motivation in the learning process and the strong relation between both of them. In kindergarten education, is really important to know how to turn on the interest and motivation in all the puppils. In fact, a lack of those in the learning process will sadly end in failure. On the other hand, it also made me think of the big change in the way of life:  Before it was possible to live without technologies and nowadays we are completely dependent on them. I think that we don't have to reject the progress and that we should take advantage of it. So I am in favour of technologies in the classrooms, but I also think that should be necessary to teach how to use them in a properly way. 

Soviets graveyard

Good afternoon everybody!

Last week we went for 3 days to a trip to Helgeland. We saw many different places such as a graveyard, similar churches, a museum connected with the nature and the human, a museum with old objects... In my case, I get a little bit shock when we went to the graveyard of soviets. They were prisioners of camps in Norway, they had a really poor situation and hard life conditions. That is the main reason of their deaths: All in all 13,700 soviets died (8,000 were lying in the cementery). The interesting thing is the localization; It is a wide field surrounded by fences, where are all the names of the deceased soviets, but there is no headstones and there is just a memorial monument where they make tribute for all the work made during their lifes in Norway. For me it seems like if it was camouglaged. Anyway, the reason for choosing that place is one historical happening. The 27th of November of 1944 british planes attacked and bombed a boat which was transporting, in consequence, approximately 2,600 people died. In 1951 the Norwegian Government decided to move all the dead bodies in the northern Norway to Tjøtta war cementery (Helgeland), to reduce the risk of spying. This action was called "Operation Asphalt" created lots of complains. This graveyard was finished in 1953.

Memorial monument

All that information was new for me and actually, I didn't know about this historical place before, because I didn't study it at the school. Even if it has been the 3rd biggest dramatic happening during the history of the world, it is hard to find information in any history book or internet. It looks like if they wanted to hide an embarrasing reality in a subtle way. However, I think that it was enought important happening and that everyone should know about it. In fact, our history is the best way of learning from our mistakes and also, it is a tool for not making the same mistakes over and over.

Bodin church

Hello everybody!

Last Wednesday (18th November) we went to Bodin church, which is located in the southeastern part of Bodo. It is the oldest church in Bodo and it was built in the 13th century, but it was enlarged in the 18th century. This is a catholic church, so when you go inside you can see on the one hand the seats, where the people take place as equals and on the other hand, the pulpit, where the priest starts the ceremony; He is in an upper position, because he is the spokesman of god and then he goes down, to transmit that he is as equal as the people that are sitting.




The decoration is quite interesting in this church. First, thing that attract attention is the alterpiece, which has 4 dimensions: In the first one, there is a simbolic "scuputure". There are some men in a table, having the last dinner and they are inviting to all the visitors. There is one boy without beard, probably because he was too young. In the second dimension, there are two name written. In the third dimension, Jesus is dying and there is a man with a key, the key to the heaven. Finally, in the last level, Jesus is ascending to the heaven and he has a crown in his head and many angels. Many years ago the roof of the church was lower than now, in consequence, the last dimension of the alterpiece was not visible for nobody. So, the people could see all the dimensions, but not the last one. In the first and in the third dimension, can be seen four colums made of wood, however, it looks like marmol because of the painting. Gottfried Ezequiel was the one in charge for painting the church and he wanted to create that sensation. It can be said that the alter piece is a baroque style, because it has a lot of details. In the walls there are many paintings, in one of them appears the widow who gave this church when her husband died. Apart from that, there is one boat hanging in the ceiling. This boat is sailing against the east,because god is in the east. This was a beautiful church that was restored instead of destroyed, it is important to take care of the cultural heritage,

First trip - Bodo

Hello everybody!

Last tuesday (November 17th) we start the new Adventure Knowlege course: Experience of Architecture, Art and Cultural Heritage. We started the day with a trip to get to know more about Bodo's history and we made a tour in Bodo sentrum. We saw many buildings such as the Nordland Museum, Bodo's cathedral, the post-office, Bodo Kommune, the railway and many more. A tower marks the most important buildings in town. Apart from that, all those buildings have some similarities, such as the windows, the main entrance and the roof, to mention some.

Nordlands Museum

We saw many buildings, but the most interesting for me was the Nordland Museum, probably because we stayed there longer than in other places. The Nordland Museum is located in Bodo Sentrum. The building is yellow and it has big windows with some details in the boarders. The main entrance is visible and  the construction has a Swiss style. In this museum you can find a lot of information about Bodo's history, but mainly in Norwegian. In the inside you can find pictures and illustrated photos, that makes the visit more visual and therefore, more enjoyable. It is a bright place, which makes the museum more attractive. There is a good use of the space: In the lowest floor there is a fishbowl with different species; In the first floor there are some informative panels with some pictures; Finally, in the second floor everything is more visual, here you can find a model of Bodo city before the attack in 1940, after the attack and how it looks like nowadays. Also, you can see the tools that the hospitals used and some daily objects that help us to understand how the norwegian society was in the 19th-20th century. Apart from that, there is a film with subtitles in english that you can watch.

This trip has been meaningful for me, because I can relate with my studies (education). For example, the film is quite interesting for children. It is an appropriate way for turning on the interest of the puppils. Furthermore, in the film Bodo's history was explained in a positive way and that is really important in education: The children should join the school activities with good and positive feelings and this way their motivation for learning will increase. However, the language is an important factor to take into account. For example, the film contained a lot of information and we had to see the film and read the subtitles at the same time, so it was difficult to follow the text and the photos at the same time. In adition, almost everything was in norwegian, so if you let the children to explore the place and learn by their own, the puppils should know Norwegian. In our case, the best option was to make a tour with a guide, who explains everything in a common language. To sum up, the museum was really interesting and I liked the idea of focus the history in a positive way.