When the Minister of Culture and Equality, Lubna Jaffery, came to lay a time capsule for the new Ibsen Library, she also visited the Henrik Ibsen Museum to see our progress.
The minister showed great interest and curiosity. She asked how many servants the Ibsen family had, how old the barn beams were, and which traditional craft techniques were used to renovate the house, among other questions.
First, the minister viewed the almost-finished barn. Walls, an amphitheatre, and lots of technical equipment are all in place and ready for use. The barn is filled with warmth, both light and heat.
Two projects are underway at the Henrik Ibsen Museum. One is the construction of a modern museum in the barn; the other is the restoration of the Ibsen family’s main house. There’s no heating while the construction work is underway, so Jaffery borrowed one of the museum cardigans, our uniform; it was a bit of a splurge!
Craftworker in Norwegian techniques, Karina Børven, talked about everything we are doing to restore the house to what it was like when the family lived there in 1835-1843. Jaffery got curious about the fireplace we have built in the kitchen and asked for permission to have a look inside. She got to see the remains of the testing we did last autumn.
Time flies when you’re having fun! An hour-long visit goes by quickly, but we’re very grateful that the minister of culture and equality took the time to see what’s going on at Henrik Ibsen’s childhood home in Skien.
