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Church of Our Saviour
Church of Our Saviour (Lutheran) also known as Nuuk Cathedral (Annaassisitta Oqaluffia). Built in 1848-1849. The building next to the church is the seat of the Bishop of Greenland (Church of Denmark.) DSC_0419Our first port call in Greenland was Nuuk, the capital. Formerly named Godthåb, the city is the largest town in Greenland with a population of about 18,000. Nuuk is also the world's northernmost capital city, just below the Arctic Circle. The city is spread out and the landscape quite austere looking. There is little vegetation, even in summer, and no trees or shrubs. Housing is primarily in the form of apartment blocks, most of new construction, although there are townhouses and scattered individual homes. The cityscape of Nuuk presents many contrasts. There is the older area, with its colonial era wooden buildings painted red in the Scandinavian style. Then, there is the newer construction downtown and towards the port and beyond.
Caribbean Princess was able to dock at the Port of Nuuk. It is a busy container and fishing port. Nearly all of Greenland's consumer goods come in from Denmark, transported by the Royal Arctic Line. The city center was about a mile from the dock. Princess had chartered most of Nuuk's public bus fleet to provide shuttle service (at a cost of US$20 per person) to the center and to the colonial area, the location of the museum. After
Inuit Mask
Inuit ask made of driftwood. IMG_0359p1 disembarking from the ship, we took the bus to the colonial port and museum area. Two Inuit girls were on hand to provide information to visitors (and to practice their English).
While there, an Air Greenland plane from Nuuk airport flew overhead. Nuuk and Greenland has outside air connections only to Reykjavik and Copenhagen (and the latter only via connection at Kangerlussuaq). There is no air connection from Greenland to North America. It reminds one who isolated Greenland still is. No roads connect any of the towns. Access between them is by air or by a weekly ferry service. Cargo comes in by ship at each coastal port.
The colonial port area is the historic section of town. The Lutheran Church of Our Saviour (also known as the Cathedral of Greenland) overlooks the scene. The red wooden structure dates from 1848-1849. Above it on a hilltop is the statue of Hans Egede. Hans Egede (1685-1758) was a Danish-Norwegian missionary who came to Greenland in 1722. He had heard stories of the old Norse (Viking) settlements in Greenland and intended to make contact with them. (Those settlements had been abandoned in the 16th century.) Egede instead turned his attention
Statue of Hans Egede Overlooking Nuuk
Statue of Hand Egede, “the Apostle of Greenland”, overlooking Nuuk. Hans Egede (1686-1758) was a Danish-Norwegian Lutheran minister. In the Lofoten Islands, he heard of the Norse settlements in Greenland that had not be contacted for 200 years. In 1721, he was sent by Denmark to attempt to reach them and serve as a missionary. He discovered the ruins of the settlements and by 1723 has established a Danish settlement in Greenland. The settlement eventually became Godthåb (Good Hope), modern Nuuk. DSC_0412 to missionary work with the Inuit and he and his colonists established Danish colonization of Greenland.
Down street from the church is the Colonial Harbour district, old Godthåb. The Greenland National Museum is here, housed partly in new construction and partly in repurposed whale oil processing buildings from the 1930s. Other preserved buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries form an open-air museum.
The national museum was excellent in its collections and their presentation. In a series of exhibits one learns of the Dorset People, the first inhabitants of Greenland! who lived in the region from 4500 years ago to about 1250. The Thule people, ancestors of today's Inuit, came much later, coming across the polar ice and sea from Alaska about 1200. The Norse arrived from Iceland in the 10th century, establishing two settlements. I had not known before that the Norse settlements maintained regular contact with Europe until about 1550, sending trade goods such as ivory. After that, no one knows what became of them. (Hence, Hans Egede's curiosity 200 years later.) Stone Ruins remain and clothing and implements have been discovered in southern Greenland. The Inuit and the Norse engaged in cultural exchanges, including the
Inuit learning farming and sheep raising and the Norse walrus and seal hunting. Displays of five Inuit graves lead to a discussion of Inuit beliefs and funerary traditions. Displays contrast Danish and Inuit experiences during the colonial era. Init culture is examined through displays on artistic expression, implements, clothing and other items of Inuit material culture.
Denmark asserted sovereignty over Greenland in 1721, with increasing self-rule in effect since 1979. The interaction of the Danish and Inuit in the colonial era is described through exhibits of clothing, education, industry and communicatIons. I also enjoyed the exhibit on Inuit Means of Transport, with displays qujaqs (kayaks), umiaks and dog sleds.These traditional forms of transportation remain in use in northern Greenland.
After our visit to the museum, we returned to downtown Nuuk. In the center of town are Nuuk Center and the Katuaq, the Nuuk cultural center. Nuuk Center is an office building and also houses a two level enclosed shopping mall. The mall includes a supermarket, which we visited. Most items are imported from Europe, including American brand chips and snacks. We picked up sandwiches from the deli counter for lunch. The mall also includes a pharmacy, restaurants, clothing
Nuup Kangerlua Fjord
Nuup Kangerlua fjord at Nuuk (Godthåb). In the distance is Sermitsiaq 3,970 ft (1,210 m). DSC_0392 and household goods stores, and an electronics store. A number of craft and souvenir shops are found along the Imaneq pedestrian precinct. Many of these operate, I think, depending on tourist volume. At one shop, the proprietor told us she was a casualty nurse and had come to Greenland from Denmark some 20 years before. She liked life in Greenland, though the winter nights were long. We went into the Katuaq for a look. It is a cinema, theatre, conference center and arts space. The wavy panels of the exterior evoke the curtains of the Northern Lights.
Another bus returned us to the port from downtown. Caribbean Princess docked at the largest wharf and even so was an unusually large ship to visit Nuuk. When we sailed late in the late afternoon, families came down to the dock to see the ship depart.
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
Greenland
Enjoyed reading this post. I love the stark beauty, and this mask is very eye-catching too.