Jarle Tollefsrud - Domesticating Antiquity. Survivals and transformations of the Classical in 19th century Norway

When Norway was re-established as a state in 1814, introducing a constitution and a parliament, it was celebrated as a return to the independent medieval kingdom. It was the throne of the old kings that was restored, and the parliament was named «Stortinget», as a reference to the ancient Norwegian law institution of the «thing». However, in the first decennia after 1814, designs for a building for the Storting invariably were made in the European classical tradition. When Jacob Aall, politician and member of the 1814 national assembly, translated the sagas of the medieval kings, he did so in an office decorated with classical pilasters, and with a cast iron Fortuna looking over his shoulder. So what role did ideas about and motives from Antiquity and the European classical tradition play in the newly independent Norwegian state? Which memories and survivals were at work, which adaptations and transformations took place? What tensions arose in the meetings between north and south, between Snorre and Homer, in a Norse kingdom erecting its throne under Corinthian columns?

Through close readings of a wide variety of text material and the adoption of new perspectives on select buildings, this project will aim to free classical architecture in Norway from a narrow period style narrative, replacing it with a focus on receptions and transformations of the European classical tradition.