Tuesday 28 April 2015

The sun’s journey in Danish myth and admiring the chairs but not using them


At the national museum I enjoyed the excellent overview of Danish history. The prehistory is notable and amazingly preserved human bodies have been retrieved from the bogs. One victim’s skull and bones were present and her cloth was so well preserved that the cloth pattern was still visible. This from a body laid there 26 centuries ago. The curators were a little over diligent, I felt as though I had seen every flint head, beaker and spear found in Denmark rather than just a selection. The Danish prehistory tale of the sun’s journey daily journey is beautiful; the sun is taken by a fish from the underworld at dawn, then carried by day horses and at sunset is taken back to the underworld hidden in snake coils. All aspects of Danish life over the centuries are illustrated in a series of furnished rooms. I found the final section most interesting with a decade wise illustration of Danish life in the 20 century showing people moving from farms to city and the growth of the labour movement, the resistance during World War 2 and then the growth of liberal values and Denmark’s role as a peacekeeper. I enjoyed more herrings for lunch in a cellar cafe close to the Radhuis.
The Danish Design Museum is in an old house with a huge garden courtyard with linden trees. There are several exhibitions currently, the first I walked through was called “The century of the child” and showed children's design for all ages. I then saw an interesting collection called “Utopia and Reality” about Danish design and cultural movements. Then I learnt about storage furniture through the ages and lastly about Kaare Klint, a designer and founder of the museum. The museum was interesting and full of ideas but also nowhere to sit and absorb the ideas and information, nearly all the chairs had “do not sit” signs on them. One could admire the chairs but not use them.

Then I walked the streets enjoying the sunshine. In the early evening I decided to rest so took the canal trip and the canal trip was fun and I enjoyed being in the harbour and seeing the modern new opera house and the black diamond building of the Royal Library. I chatted to two Aussie microbiologists who work in Brisbane for a large private company like the The Doctors Lab who are taking over microbiology in the UK. They were positive about their work and I understood how these practices will develop in the UK over the next decade, in large labs with good infra-structure. I had a fish supper with good beer on Nyhavn, sitting inside so that I was a bit warmer.

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