Following the footsteps of Saint Olav along the cultural route in Norway
Date: 2023-07-04
The final rurAllure General Meeting took place in Norway on 26 – 28 June 2023. Organised by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of design together with the National Pilgrim Center and local partners Stiftelsen Lillehammer Museum and Mjøsmuseet AS, the event was focused on the launch of the Cooperation Network and further exploitation plans.
The first day of the meeting took place in Bjerkebæk museum, the home of Nobel Laureate Norwegian female writer Sigrid Undset (1882-1949), who dedicated her books to the pilgrimages in the Medieval times.
The local stakeholders from Lillehammer Museum and the Innlandet county administration presented their projects focused on cultural heritage and arts based tourism, providing networking opportunities for all the participants.
On June 27. the NTNU Gjøvik University hosted a presentation and press event, presenting the project to the invited guests, journalists and external actors in the area. The project leader for Norway Ole E. Wattne presented the development of the ethnographic research and mapping along the St. Olav route and the actions with the local stakeholders from tourism organization Visit ØstNorge, Gjøvik municipality, the Church of Norway and regional pilgrim centres, underlining new promotional opportunities for rural heritage and slow travel.
During the conference, the Cooperation Network for Pilgrimage Network was officially launched with signatures of the memorandum of understanding by Presidents of the Way of Mary, Via Francigena and Romea Strata.
The General Meeting gave an opportunity to discover the cultural heritage along the Gudbrandsdalsleden stretch of the St. Olav’s Way, 640 kilometers-long route from Oslo, along the lake Mjøsa reaching the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim.
Among the main points of interest of the route, the group visited Lillehammer Museum – Maihaugen, an open-air museum of traditional architecture from the 14th to the 20th Century; the Garmo Stave Church, built in early 1200s; the museum Mjøsas Ark – Mjøsmuseet just in front of the Norway’s largest lake, and the farm-museum Gjøvik gård – Mjøsmuseet.
During the last two days the Consortium experienced the St.Olav Ways as real pilgrims: hiking and vising cultural heritage between Lillehammer and Trondheim, such as Ringebu Stave Church and vicarage, one of the country’s 28 remaining stave churches in Norway.
The hikes included the experience reaching the Viewpoint Snøhetta in the Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park, overlooking mountains and a 7-kilometer walk from Hjerkinn.
The study trip also included a visit to the Dale Gudbrand Pilgrim Centre, located in a historic farm, and the Pilgrim Center in Trondheim | Nidaros pilegrimsgård (nidarospilegrimsgard.no), in charge of the territorial and regional development of the route.
The General Meeting ended with a tour in the St. Olav ways terminus point – the most northern cathedral in Europe – the Nidaros Cathedral , built over the burial site of King Olav II Haraldsson, the patron saint of Norway.
