The Danish Prime Minister grilled about Bergen’s city seal
But Mette Frederiksen could not love that the seal “is going home”.
“The seal is going home” has been demanded by several local politicians in recent years.
For around 350 years, the oldest imprint we have of Bergen’s city seal has been in a collection at the University of Copenhagen, together with 800 other Norwegian medieval documents.
The city seal dates from 1299, and forms the basis for what is today Bergen’s city coat of arms – a castle between seven mountains.
Had to answer
In recent years, Audun Lysbakken (SV) and medieval historian Jo Rune Ugulen have fought to get the documents returned to Norway. Minister of Culture Abid Raja (V) has also taken up the matter with his Danish colleague.
This week, it was the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen who had to answer for what happens to the city seal and other Norwegian cultural monuments that are in the Danish archives.
Helge André Njåstad (Frp) asked questions about this below Nordic Council session in Copenhagen.
Drum and seal
In his question, Njåstad pointed to both Bergen’s oldest city seal and a Sami drum that was confiscated in 1691. He asked Denmark to relinquish ownership of these and other cultural monuments originating from Norway.
– If we are to get tourists to Norway, then we need to show the cultural treasures. It is a matter of course that Bergen’s seal belongs in Bergen, and not in Copenhagen, said Njåstad.
The Danish Prime Minister, on the other hand, barely said:
– I do not have the competence to assess a Sami drum. So I will not answer that, replied Frederiksen from the rostrum of the Folketing in Copenhagen according to VG.
Big smiled
Njåstad is not surprised by the narrow answer.
– It was well as expected that she does not over the table give us the city seal and the drum. However, I chose to address these issues directly with the Prime Minister, since this is definitely a Nordic matter. Iceland is struggling with exactly the same thing with its medieval cultural monuments, he says.
He can also tell that he also took up with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
Støre smiled and agreed that Norway must fight for these cultural treasures.
The government loves action
The new government also has a separate item on the issue in The Hurdal platform.
“The government will take the initiative for a Nordic project on the origin of cultural objects and repatriation discussions, and for Norway’s part how good arrangements for co-operation can solve repatriation discussions,” it says in the chapter “Cultural heritage must be promoted”.
Minister of Culture Anette Trettebergstuen (Labor Party) has taken up the matter of the Sami drum up with his Danish colleague, just as her predecessor Abid Raja did with the city seal.
Njåstad says that he and Frp will pursue this case.
– To transfer the ownership must probably be clarified between the prime ministers, so the FRP now achieved that both the Danish and Norwegian prime ministers are updated on the city seal.