On the bit of the Norwegian Arctic that lops over Sweden and Finland, American artist Louise Bourgeois and Swiss architect Peter Zumthor collaborated on a monument to the ninety-one persons burned there as witches in the seventeenth century. It was dedicated by Queen Sonja in 2011.
The Memorial comprises two separate buildings: a 410-foot long wooden structure framing a fabric cocoon that contains Zumthor’s installation; and a square smoked glass room, its roof 39 feet on each side, that contains the work of Bourgeois.
Bourgeois’ installation, titled The Damned, the Possessed and the Beloved, is made from weathering steel and 17 panes of tinted glass, forming walls that stop short of the ceiling and floor. Inside, Bourgeois has set a metal chair with flames projecting through its seat. This is reflected “in seven oval mirrors placed on metal columns in a ring around the fiery seat, like judges circling the condemned.” This was her last installation; she died, at age 98, a year before its dedication.
Zumthor’s structure is made from wooden frames creating sixty bays in a long line within which, suspended by cable-stays, is a coated fiberglass membrane that tapers at each end. Inside is a timber walkway, 328 feet long but only 5 feet wide. Along the narrow corridor are 91 randomly placed small windows representing those executed, each one accompanied by an explanatory text based on original sources.
The witch trials were a phenomenon throughout Europe and, from the 15th century through to around 1750, up to 100,000 people were prosecuted or suspected of being witches, and maybe 40-50% of them were found guilty and burned as witches.
Several stories about the victims of the witch trials in Finnmark are told at Steilneset: ‘In 1621, Lisbeth Nilsdatter of Gamvik openly admitted to rejecting her God and attending gatherings at Omgang, where there was drinking and dancing and the casting of spells over vessels. Peder Krogh’s wife Ingeborg initially rejected the claims, but she floated like a balloon during the water test. After that, she admitted to killing fish for a neighbour. She was tortured to death. Margrete Jonsdatter, in 1663, admitted to having participated in gatherings with dancing, drinking and to playing cards with Satan on the Eve of Saint John at a place called Domen. In 1678, Synnøve Johannesdatter was found guilty of casting spells on a goat and of causing Anders Jensen’s death.’
Funding came from the National Tourist Routes, eighteen highways in Norway chosen for their picturesque scenery and tourist-friendly infrastructure, such as rest stops and viewpoints.
