Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre opened the jubilee year

Jonas Gahr Støre held an opening speech.  Photo: Nansen-Amundsen Year 2011

«Snowhow. Polarheltenes læremestre: inuitter, samer og ishavsfolk»  Photo: Ann Kristin Balto, Norwegian Polar Institute

Terje Isungset plays on 100 year old ice from the South Pole. Photo: Sebastian Gerland

Terje Isungset on ice instruments, with vocalist Lena Nymark. Photo: Sebastian Garland

The dog sledges were a popular attraction among both old and young. Photo: Adnan Icagic, Tromsø University Museum

The Minister of Foreign Affairs opened the year

The year was officially opened by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre. The jubilee year should take the opportunity to show the many facets of Nansen and Amundsen, and not be simply a parade march, he underlined. Consequently, he hopes the debate concerning Nansen and Amundsen continues.

Gahr Støre also reached out to the younger ones. This fall, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be inviting Norway's high school students to a national competion. The students will be able to participate using words, pictures, video or other medias, inspired by Nansen and Amundsens lives. Among the prizes is a visit to Antarctica.

Public festival

Terje Isungset gave a beutiful mucial performance, playing on instruments made from things such as 100 year old ice cores from the South Pole. For the first time, he had also created a "Sout Pole'ophone". The brittle tones from the ice were a nice contrast to the barking dogs at the other side of the Fram Centre.

Øytun folkehøgskole, fronted by Harald Tunheim, visited from Alta to participate with dog sledge runs during the opening event. The dog sledges proved popular with the crowd, and both old and young hitched a ride through the area surrounding the the Fram Centre.

Inside the dry dock of the M/V Polstjerna, a new exhibition was opened by Justice Departement Coucilman and former Governor of Svalbard Morten Ruud. The exhibition, «Snowhow: What the Polar Heroes learned from the Inuit, the Sami and the Arctic Seafarers», focuses on the knowledge Nansen and Amundsen acquired from the Arctic seafarers and the Arctic indigenous peoples, and is a collaboration of Tromsø University Museum and the Norwegian Polar Institute.

One of the exhibition's posters reads:
«It's strange how hungry for a treat you get on an Arctic journey»
- Roald Amundsen

After having tested the dog sledges, watched movies and listened to speeches and the concert, a good portion of those who turned up would have had to agree with Roald Amundsen on this. Appropriately, they were served snacks of seal meat from Rya Produkter, along with delicious cookies, crackers and sun-buns from Bakehuset bakery.