ibsen in skien - Telemark Museum

ibsen in skien
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4 The Stockmann Building
12 The Ibsen House
6 The Altenburg Building
14 The sculpture Nora
22 Snipetorp
8 The Ibsen Park
16 The Artists Gift
24 Burial plots of the Ibsen family
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18 The Rat-Wife
26 Venstøp
10 Theatre Ibsen
20 The Ibsen Steps
30 Map
Henrik Ibsen
was born in Skien on the 20th of March 1828, to parents Knud and Marichen Ibsen.
He spent the first fifteen years of his life here. At the time Skien was a lively trading
town with a population of approximately 3000. Both of Henrik Ibsen’s parents
belonged to the town’s most powerful trading families.
A big fire reduced Skien to ruins in 1886, and the Skien that made such an
impression on Henrik Ibsen as a child was lost. The only authentic area left from
Henrik Ibsen’s time is found along the street Snipetorp. But even so, there are
traces of Henrik Ibsen all over town.
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The Stockmann Building
Henrik Ibsen was born in the Stockmann Building in 1928 and lived there until
1831. Henrik Ibsen’s father, Knud Ibsen, established a store in the Stockmann
Building in 1925. It was a mixed retail store that sold a wide variety of wares.
Knud Ibsen imported goods from all over the world: grape liquor, white whine and
red wine from Bordeaux, cotton cloth, wool cloth and yarn from London, and linen
from Altona in Germany. He also sold glass wares, combs made from ivory and horn,
brass objects, mirrors, lace, pencils, optical instruments and silk.
The original building was lost in the big fire.
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b– or perhaps they were simply
b renamed – the honor b
bwhen the streets of Skien,b
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ome years ago,
the town of my birth, were b
given their names
was bestowed upon me of ab
street bearing my name. This
is at least what the newspapers tell me, and I have been made party to the same
Sinformation
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by reliable travellers. According to their description, this street supposedly runs from the town square down towards the harbor, or
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From Henrik Ibsen’s unfinished autobiography “From Skien to Rome”.
January 17th 1881:
Photo: Telemark Museum
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“Muddringen”. But if their particulars are true, it is beyond me why the street in question has come to be named after me, as I was not born on
that street, nor have I ever lived there. I was, on the other hand, born in a building on the square, the Stockmann building […]. The building
sat directly opposite the front of the church, with its tall steps and considerable steeple. To the right of the church the town pillory was located,
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The Altenburg Building
In 1831 the Ibsen family moved to the splendid Altenburg Building, childhood home
to Marichen Ibsen. Here Marichen and Knud Ibsen hosted grand parties where
other affluent families were invited. The guests arrived by horse and carriage, in their
finest clothes, and were treated to the best possible food and drink, served by the
family’s servants. They were seated around beautifully decorated tables, and gave
speeches, smoked cigars and toasted with champagne.
Almost the entire family fortune was lost in 1835. The Altenburg Building and all
the contents were auctioned off and the family had to move to their country house,
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Venstøp, 5 kilometers – 3 miles – outside of town.
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The original Altenburg Building was also lost in the big fire.
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b and to the left wasb
the police station, with jailb
cells and the “fool’s chest” b
(“Dårekisten”)b
– the madhouse. The fourthb
side of the square was
occupied
by The Latin School and
The Citizens School. Theb
church stood freely in the middle. And so this scene was my first view of the world
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[…]; all architecture; no greenery; no rural countryside. But above this square space of stone and wood the air hummed, all the day long, with
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Photo: Telemark Museum
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a dim, churning rush from the waterfalls Langefos and Klosterfossen and the many other plummeting waters, and from morning and well into
the evening something pierced the roar of the rushing water, something resembling sharp, sometimes shrieking, some­times moaning, women
screaming. It was the one hundred saw blades, full at work by the falls. When later in life I read about the guillotine, those saw blades returned
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bChristmas Eve towards b
b to say, the church wasbthe most splendid edifice b
b to my thoughts. Needless
in town. Back b
when Skien was set on fire one
the b
end of the previous century, b
due to the carelessness of a b
housemaid, the church of that day also burned down. The housemaid was, as was to
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be expected, executed. But the town, which was rebuilt with straight and wide streets on the hills and hollows in which it resides, was gifted
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The Ibsen Park
The park was built after the town fire in 1886. On the occasion of Henrik Ibsen’s
70th birthday in 1898 the park was named The Henrik Ibsen Square and today goes
by the name The Ibsen Park.
In The Ibsen Park are the sculptures “Henrik Ibsen 1928 – 1906” by Dyre Vaa,
“The Buckride” by Svein Tore Kleppan and “Hedvig and The Wild Duck, Eyolf and
Mopsemann” by Svein Tore Kleppan.
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with a new church, one that the citizens with a measure of pride claimed was built out of yellow Dutch clinker, constructed by a master builder
from Copenhagen, and was the mirror image of the church in Kongsberg. At the time I did not sufficiently appreciate these merits; however,
what forcefully caught my attention was a white, large, hugely proportioned angel that on most days hovered high underneath the vaulting
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bwhen a child was to be baptized,
b it cameb
with a bowl in itsb
hands, though every Sunday
floating down amongst us. b
But more than the white b
angel
inside the church, I was preoccupied
with the black poodle
that had its abode in the very top of the tower, where the watchman called at
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night. It had eyes like glowing red embers, but did not show itself frequently. To my knowledge it appeared only once. It was on New Years Eve,
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From “Henrik Ibsen – en dannelsesreise i Telemark”
Theatre Ibsen
The building “Festiviteten”, the town’s new cultural center, opened on the 20th
of March 1891. Henrik Ibsen was invited to the grand opening, but he was
­unfortunately unable to attend. He mentions the event in a letter to his sister:
“Oh, how I wish I could have been present on this occasion. Out of those I knew as
a child I suspect few would be present. I would have been surrounded by what to
me would be an unfamiliar kin. But perhaps not as unfamiliar as all that; through all
my years of absence I have felt like I belonged in the town of my birth.”
Theatre Ibsen, regional theatre for Telemark and Vestfold counties, moved into
Festiviteten in 1986.
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just as the watchman called One out of the window at the front of the tower. That was when the black poodle came up the tower steps behind
him and just stared at him with those glowing eyes, nothing else, but the watchman plummeted from the tower window to the square below,
where they found him lying dead, all those devout parishioners walking to morning service on New Years Day. Ever since that night the
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b and the poodle took b
b window in Skien church.
b However,b
watchman never b
called One through that particular
this incident with the watchman
place
long before my time, andb
I have later been told that in
the olden days similar episodes took place in a number of Norwegian churches.
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But back when I was a child that same tower window was particularly notable in that it was from that very window I received my very first
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The Ibsen House
The Ibsen House was formally opened in 1973 and is the town cultural center.
In and around The Ibsen House there are sculptures of both Ibsen himself
and characters from his plays. Skien library is also located in The Ibsen
House, which is home to one of Norway’s largest Ibsen collections, consisting
of Ibsen’s production, in addition to a wide variety of literature concerning his
life and work. The collection consists of more than 700 volumes.
The sculptures
Fjelde, Jacob: “Henrik Ibsen”, bronze bust on pedestal
Sundby, Nina: “Nora”, bronze sculpture on pedestal
Sundby, Nina: “Henrik Ibsen”, bronze sculpture on pedestal
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Visdal, Jo: “Henrik Ibsen”, bronze bust on pedestal
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Sundby, Nina: “Mother Aase and Peer Gynt”, bronze sculpture on pedestal
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conscious and lasting impression. It so happened that one day my nanny […] let me sit in the open window, secured from behind, of course, by
her loyal arms. I can clearly recall how vividly I could look down at the crowns of people’s hats; I could see into our own sitting rooms, could
see the window sills, see the curtains, could see my mother standing by one of the windows down there; yes, I could even see our brown horse tied
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Helmer: Listen to her, Mrs Linde! She had danced her
­Tarantella, and it had been a tremendous success, as it
­deserved – although possibly the performance was a trifle
too realistic – a little more so, I mean, than was strictly
­compatible with the limitations of art. But never mind about
that! The chief thing is, she had made a success – she had
made a tremendous success.
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by the stable door,b
lashing its tail. I rememberb
a shiny sheet metal bucket b
hanging on theb
stable wall. But then thereb
was running and throng­ingb
andb
waving down there in the door
to our house, and the maid
rapidly pulled me inside and hurried down the steps with me. I do not recall the
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rest, but on many occasions hence the story was told that my mother had caught a glimpse of me up there in the tower window, that she had
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From A Doll’s House, 1879
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screamed, that she had fainted, which was the custom in those days, and that she afterwards, when I was returned to her, had cried and
kissed and stroked me. After that day, as a boy I never crossed the square without glancing at the tower window. It seemed to me that window
espec­i­ally concerned the church poodle and myself. I have only retained a single additional memory of my earliest years. As a baptism gift
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bhooknose and a
ba large silver coin with anb
I had […] received
engraving of a man’s head.b
The man hadb
a high forehead, a prominent
­pro­tb
ruding lower lip; and moreover,
his throat was naked, which
I thought curious. My nanny taught me that the man on the coin was “king
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Fredrik rex”, and I once entertained myself by rolling the coin across the floor, with the unfortunate consequence of the coin disappearing into
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The Artists gift
For his 70th Birthday in 1898 and 75th birthday in 1903 Henrik Ibsen was
­presented with gifts of art from contemporary artists. Leading Norwegian artists
of the time contributed to the collection, including Frits Thaulow, Christian Krogh,
­Harriet Backer and Kitty Kielland. All these artists wishing to honor Ibsen say
­something about his position in his time and amongst his artistic colleagues.
The collection consists of 54 works of art, and they are all on exhibit at The Ibsen
House. The paintings and the artists are featured in the book “Kunstgaven.
Til Henrik Ibsens 70- og 75-årsdag. Skien billedgalleri 2006”.
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a crack. I think my parents considered it to be a bad omen, as it was a gift given while I was still in my cradle. The floor was broken open, and
they searched and dug for a very long time, but king Fredrik rex never again saw the light of day. It couldn’t be helped that I for a long time
thereafter considered myself to be a bad criminal, and when I saw the town constable, Peter Tysker, come out of the police station heading for
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The Rat-Wife
The sculpture The Rat-Wife by Marit Benthe Norheim and 2318 students at the
schools of Skien was unveiled on March 20th 2006. The sculpture is made of
­concrete, with porcelain eyes made by the students.
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Eyolf: Auntie, isn’t it strange that she should be called the Rat-Wife?
Asta: Oh, people just give her that name because she wanders round
the country driving away all the rats.
Allmers: I have heard that her real name is Varg.
Eyolf: Varg! That means a wolf, doesn’t it?
Allmers: So you know that, do you?
Eyolf: Then perhaps it may be true, after all, that she is a were-wolf at night.
Do you believe that, Papa?
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bas fast as I could into theb
our front door, I ran
nursery and hid under theb
bed. However,b
we did not remain for long b
in that building on the
square.
My father bought a bigger
house, and we moved inb
when I was four years or so. This, my new home, sat on a corner, situated somewhat
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higher in the town, at the foot of “Hundevadbakken”, named after an old, German speaking doctor, whose stately wife rode in a “glass coach”,
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Little Eyolf, 1894
(Translated by William Archer, Project Gutenberg)
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which in the winter was turned into a sled. In our new house there were many, large living rooms both upstairs and downstairs, and much
entertaining took place. But we boys did not stay indoors for long at a time. The square […] was the natural rallying point and battleground
for the town’s youth. The Latin School was at the time ruled by the old, distinguished and most courteous principal Ørn; the foremost at the
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The Ibsen Steps
The Ibsen Steps were restored in April 1995. 32 of the 127 steps are decorated with
well-known quotes from Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. One may walk through the entire drama,
from the opening line of the first act, “Peer – you are lying”, to Solveig’s line “ – in my
hope and in my love” in the fifth act.
The steps are made of concrete and covered by granite.
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Which way should I choose! Many a road is open to me; And by my choice a wise
man or fool I will be.
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b and barber. Manyb
b Citizens School wasbmost likely the caretaker,b
bbloke, whob
Iver Flasrud, another excellent
also doubled as the town hairdresser
a fierce
battle was fought around
the church between the boys
from the two schools; but as I did not belong to either school, I was mostly present
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as an observer. It should be stated that I was not at any time in my childhood a comba­tive sort. The above-mentioned pillory and the police
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Peer Gynt, 1867
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station with all its spooky secrets presented a much more significant attraction to me. The pillory was a reddish brown pillar, about as high as a
man; on top there was a large, round knob, which originally had been painted black, but now the knob more resembled a friendly, inviting
human face, slightly aslant. An iron chain was attached at the front of the pillar, and at the end was an open collar, which […] looked like two
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Snipetorp
In the fall of 1843 the Ibsen family moved to a house on the street Snipetorp. The
first floor was rented out to provide the family with an income. In the courtyard Knud
Ibsen raised chickens, also to add to their income. At the time he was not regularly
employed, only working here and there, on and off. One of his tasks was helping
people who wanted to travel to America. The street outside the house is the only
authentic architectural environment left in Skien from Henrik Ibsen’s years in town.
Henrik Ibsen only lived in Snipetorp for a few months. He had turned fifteen, had
been confirmed and had to make his own way in the world. Around Christmas he
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sailed with the ship “Lykkens Prøve” – “Trial of Fortune” – to Grimstad.
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bwith the utmost pleasureb
b small open arms that
bIt should b
prepared to cling to my throat.
be noted that it had not beenb
in use for years, but even b
so Ib
recall vividly that it remained
for all my time in Skien.b
I do not know if it remains there to this day. And then there was the police station.
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As it was with the church, it had a long flight of stairs up front. The jail cells with their barred windows were in the basement, facing the
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Today the house is available as an artist’s residence.
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square. Behind those bars I have seen many a pale and scary face. A room in the very depths of the police station was referred to as the “fool’s
chest” (“Dårekisten”) […], once upon a time it truly was used to incarcerate the insane. The room had bars like the other cells, but inside the
bars a massive sheet of iron, into which a number of small holes had been drilled, so that it resembled a strainer, covered the whole opening.
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b by the name of Brandeis,
b who had been b
b that this cave servedb
bnotorious criminal
Moreover it was claimed
as dwel­ling for an at the time
branded;
and I also believe it contained
an escaped and recaptured
man who had been sentenced to slavery for life, and who was whipped at
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the stake up at Li-torvet. Eyewitnesses claimed that when the latter character was led to his place of punishment, he had been dancing, but that
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Burial plots of the Ibsen family
Henrik Ibsen’s parents, Marichen and Knud Ibsen, are buried at Lie Graveyard.
Their graves are at opposite ends of the graveyard, due to the fact that they were
separated for the last years of their life. Ibsen’s sister, Hedvig Stousland and her
family, is also buried here.
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when he was taken back to the jail cell, they had to pull him on a cart. During my childhood years Skien was an exceedingly joyful and festive
town, quite the contrary of what it would later become. At the time a number of supremely cultured, affluent and highly regarded families lived
partially in the town itself, partially on large farms in the area. Close or more remote kinship connected most of these families amongst
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b and summers. There b
b dinner parties and musical
b themselves, and balls,
bsoirées came one after another
b in rapidbsuccession both during winters
wasb
also a regular influx of travellers
[…], and as there were
no real hotels […], one stayed with friends and relatives. Visits from strangers
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were almost a constant occurrence at our spacious farmhouse and especially around Christmastime and the market days, our townhouse was
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Venstøp
The Ibsen family moved to Venstøp in June of 1835 and the farm was Henrik Ibsen’s
home until 1843. Henrik Ibsen mostly kept to himself at Venstøp. When the other
children wanted him to join their games, he often refused. He liked to read, and
spent hours in the attic, reading books. He created a puppet theatre and often held
performances in the washhouse for his siblings and the neighborhood children.
He performed as a conjurer and a ventriloquist. These activities earned him some
pocket money.
Today Venstøp is a museum. In the farmhouse the connection between Henrik
Ibsen’s childhood and his works is on display, in a modern and engaging exhibition
which, among other things, takes visitors on a tour of the attic that plays a pivotal
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role in The Wild Duck. One may also visit Ibsen’s top hat – an exciting multimedia
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presentation for both children and adults of the essence of Henrik Ibsen’s works.
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full and the table was set from morning to nightfall. The Skien market days took place in the month of February and it was a particularly
happy time for us boys; as early as six months previous we started collecting money in preparation for viewing the conjurers and tightrope
walkers and horse riders, and in order to buy honey cakes down at the market stalls. I confess to be ignorant of the importance of the market on
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b of May was never b
b business in town asba whole; but for me it remained
b a hugely festive occasion,
blasting a b
full week. Back then the seventeenth
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of an occasion in Skien. Ab
few youngsters fired “key guns”
out at Blegebakken or lit “witches” – firecrackers; and that was about the
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extent of it. I suspect this reticence in our otherwise joyful town was observed in deference to a certain highly trusted man, whose estate was
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located in the vicinity of the town, and who for various reasons one did not wish to provoke. But Midsummer Eve was all the more festive. […]
The boys and the grown youth of the town gathered in five or six or more societies, whereupon each worked to gather materials for their group’s
bonfire. As early as during Whitsun we gathered together to make the rounds at the shipyards or the peddler’s stalls to “beg” empty tar barrels.
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1. The Stockmann Building
2. The Altenburg Building
3. The Ibsen Park
4. Theatre Ibsen
5. The Ibsen House
6. The Artists Gift
7. The Rat-Wife
8. The Ibsen Steps
9. Snipetorp
10. Lie Graveyard
11. Venstøp
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Henrik Ibsen’s home from 1828 to 1931
Henrik Ibsen’s home from 1831 to 1835
“Henrik Ibsen 1828 – 1906” by Dyre Vaa
“The Buckride” by Svein Tore Kleppan
“Hedvig and The Wild Duck, Eyolf and Mopsemann” by Svein Tore Kleppan
Regional theatre for Telemark and Vestfold
“Henrik Ibsen” by Jacob Fjelde
“Nora” by Nina Sundby
“Henrik Ibsen” by Nina Sundby
“Henrik Ibsen” by Jo Visdal
“Mother Aase and Peer Gynt” by Nina Sundby
Gift from contemporary artists on the occasion of Henrik Ibsen’s 70th and 75th birthday
“The Rat-Wife” by Marit Benthe Norheim
Steps with quotes from Peer Gynt
Henrik Ibsen’s home in 1843
Burial plots of the Ibsen family
Henrik Ibsen’s home from 1835 to 1843
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b as willingly given gifts,bwas stolen, without the b
b A peculiar customb
bimmortal. Whatever we were
bunable to procure
had been in effect since time
owner
or the police even remotely
considering any punitive b
reaction to such a violation. In this manner a society could by and by amass a whole
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pile of empty tar barrels. The same time-honored right was valid with regard to old rowboats. If we came upon such a vessel on dry land, we
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Brekkeparken
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8
N
Kongensgate
Kongen
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sgate
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Kirkegata
Kvern
dalsg
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Prinsessegata
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Lieg
Øv
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5 6
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Bryggevannet
Handelstorget
Prinsessegata
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Henrik Ibsens gate
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Telemarksgata
Torggata
Torggata
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Snipetorpgat
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re
Lundegata
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ate
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would succeed in dragging the occasional specimen quietly away and keep it hidden; we had thereby gained the right of ownership, or would at
least be exempt from any consequences. And then, on the day before Midsummer’s Eve, the boat was carried triumphantly through the streets to
the place of the bonfire. In the boat sat a fiddler. I have several times been a witness to and myself once partaken in such a Bakkestranda
parade.
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Hjellevannet
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www.stopeskien.no
www.visitgrenland.no
www.telemark.museum.no
www.teateribsen.no
www.ibsenhuset.no
www.skien.folkebibl.no
www.skien.kommune.no
Skien kommune, kulturavdelingen, postboks 4, 3701 Skien, Norway
32
Design: Guro Dale Layout/print: Wera as English translation by Stian Omland Photo: Dag Jenssen
www.henrikibsen.no