Facing the sea

Facing the sea, or “Mot Havet” in Norwegian, is a bronze sculpture standing here on Kiperviktorget Square. It shows a woman standing upright, dressed like the wives of nineteenth-century fishermen, her eyes fixed on the distant horizon. Her posture suggests she is searching the sea, waiting for something that never came back. To understand this statue, we have to return to a tragic night in the summer of 1885. That day, dozens of fishermen from Ålesund headed out to sea as they often did, sailing on seven small fishing boats and expecting to return later that evening. But the weather suddenly changed. A violent northwesterly storm rose off the coast, and the boats, light and poorly protected, were quickly overwhelmed by the waves. On land, the women rushed down to the shore, watching the storm and hoping to see the boats return. They waited through the night, but their husbands never came back. Thirty-three men died in the storm, leaving behind twenty-nine widows and one hundred and thirteen children without fathers. This memorial stands on one of the squares closest to the district of Buholmen, where many of the fishermen who lost their lives had lived. The sculpture was created by Kirsten Kokkin, a well-known artist in both Norway and the United States, admired for the delicate and emotional quality of her work. Rather than creating a grand or heroic monument, she chose a simple figure, representing the women who remain, the ones who carry the grief and continue with their lives. If you follow the direction of the statue’s gaze, you can see the snow-covered mountains of the island of Sula in the distance, a popular place for hiking. Closer to you, though, is the Slinningsodden peninsula, where one of Ålesund’s most famous traditions takes place every year: the St. John’s bonfire. For this celebration, locals build a gigantic wooden tower, entirely by hand, which is then set on fire during the festivities marking the summer solstice. The bonfire here is one of the most famous in the world and even held a Guinness World Record in 2016, when it reached 47.4 meters in height, about as tall as a fifteen-story building. The tradition blends very old pagan customs celebrating the light of summer with later Christian festivities for St. John’s Day. Construction of the pyre usually begins on May first and takes about two months, built piece by piece by young volunteers. The celebration itself takes place on the Saturday closest to June twenty-third, usually around nine in the evening. Large crowds gather along the shore, cheering as the tower burns, while boats in the fjord sound their horns to join the celebration. If you ever happen to be in Ålesund at that time of year, it’s definitely a sight worth seeing.