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Is this Norway’s most unique headstone?
“People found it really amusing,” an art historian says about the reactions she got. But she is unsure whether the headstone was intended to be humorous back in 1868.
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Two eyes peer out at you when the hatch opens, and simultaneously, two arms holding a book emerge from the opening.
Art historian Elisabeth Andersen discovered that the nearly 160-year-old multimedia headstone at Skjåk Church still functions exactly as intended.
“You are both surprised and curious,” she tells Science Norway.
Said to have resembled the deceased
The headstone still stands in memory of Rasmus Iversen Holø in the cemetery at Skjåk in central Norway. He was born in 1831 and reportedly died in an accident in 1868, at the age of 37.
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According to an article in Urd written by art historian Roar Hauglid in 1943 (link in Norwegian), it was his younger brother, Lars Holø, who made the elaborate headstone. Lars lived from 1833 to 1900.
Hauglid also noted that people in the village thought it resembled Rasmus Holø.
Elisabeth Andersen, who works with church art at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU), first shared the story of the unique headstone on her Facebook page. It sparked great enthusiasm, garnering thousands of reactions in the form of likes, comments, and shares. The level of engagement was higher than what she usually receives from her regular followers.
"People found it really amusing. Many of the comments were along the lines of 'that gave me a real scare!'" says Andersen.
She has wondered whether humour played a role when the headstone was created nearly 160 years ago.
But she is far from convinced that it did.
Art for ordinary people
"It looks comical to us today. But I would imagine that the younger brother made this because his older brother meant a lot to him, and he wanted to make something that bore a resemblance to him," says Andersen.
Furthermore, the book held in the figure's hands was intended to serve a specific purpose. The names of family members who died after him were supposed to be entered in it. However, that never happened.
Naturally, we cannot know for certain what thoughts lay behind the headstone. But although it is unique, it is not entirely atypical when viewed in a broader context, according to Andersen.
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Graves could have local variations
"You could call this a wonderful example of folk art. Folk art is characterised by great variety and creative spirit. Sometimes it can also appear a little comical, as many find this headstone to be,” she says.
In rural communities prior to industrialisation, furniture, tools, and other everyday objects were usually made by people on farms or by local craftspeople without formal training, Andersen explains.
Many of these objects were decorated, either with simple patterns or elaborate ornamentation. Different regions developed their own distinctive styles regarding form and decoration.
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This is particularly evident in some of the headstones found in Gudbrandsdalen, a valley in south-central Norway where Skjåkk is located.
Same period – vastly different style
The headstones in Gudbrandsdalen bear witness to the fact that many skilled woodcarvers lived in the area, Andersen notes.
For instance, the monuments may feature beautifully carved acanthus leaves. The acanthus motif is based on the jagged leaves and prominent leaf veins of plants in the acanthus family, according to the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia (link in Norwegian).
In other places, materials such as slate and other types of stone were used, along with wrought-iron crosses and fences, says Andersen.
In the neighbouring village of Vågå, there is a headstone based on much the same principle as the one in Skjåk. However, its appearance is completely different.
“You open the door and find a headstone inside, with beautiful acanthus carvings and a memorial inscription for a young girl who died. It dates from roughly the same period, but lacks that animated quality,” she says.
Likely from the farming community
From a modern perspective, it is easy to assume that the multimedia headstone in Skjåk, featuring the well-dressed gentleman, must be a sign of status and wealth.
“But you probably didn’t need to be very wealthy to make something like this out of wood, provided your brother was skilled at carpentry and woodcarving,” says Andersen.
Wealthier people often had more elegantly designed standing stone monuments, perhaps with a profile portrait cast in iron attached to them.
“This may well have been someone from a farming background. But his brother must have been inventive and creative. Perhaps he wanted to keep the memory of his older brother even more alive,” she says.
Perhaps things were not always so deadly serious?
While 19th-century folk art might appear comical to modern eyes, that was probably not always the original intention, Andersen believes.
"It wasn't always meant to be humorous, but that does not necessarily mean everything was deadly serious just because it was in a church or a graveyard. People might well have cracked a smile at certain things," she says.
She has made it a sort of personal mission to share unique church art with a humorous twist on her Facebook page.
A number of priests, in particular, are very enthusiastic. Science Norway can confirm that this is true: it was, in fact, a priest who first tipped us off about Andersen's work.
"We don't always have to feel ashamed about joking a little about church art, as long as we do so with a certain degree of reverence," says Andersen.
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Translated by Nancy Bazilchuk
Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no
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