For centuries stonemasons and stone carvers have been building cathedrals. Some still do, and this weekend about hundred stone masons from 18 different countries participated in the European Stone Festival. This year for the first time in Norway, in my home town of Trondheim. Here stone masons started to build the Nidarosdomen Cahtedral about 1000 year ago. And in the yard of the former archbishops, todays practitioners of the old craft worked hard all weekend. They all were to make a sculpture from the fairy tales, using a piece of stone, soapstone. That’s the material used for this cathedral, the biggest in Northern Europe.
I don’t know who made the best fairy tale stone, but it was so interesting to see these people working. There are some photos here, and more photos in my photo gallery.
Now this is a festival I must see/photograph sometime….
This is so great! Thank you for giving us a tour of this incredible event!!! Z
Never seen so many stoned individuals . . .
Really neat! I like the dragon and the owl.
Looks like some really fine artists represented here. Great shots.
I didn’t even know they had these events. Great to see.
Hi,
Wow, so many talented people just fantastic carvings, and great photos too.
Wonderful to see such skilled artists at work. Great photos!
How magnificent to see this craft kept alive.
Some of those are wonderful! I wish there was something like that over here! Thanks for posting & your wonderful photos!
This is absolutely fascinating ! Will they use these on the cathedral? I also wonder how many belong to the Freemasons? It’s so encouraging to learn that this art is being kept alive and thriving. Great post!
All lovely, but my vote goes to the dragon. Such artistry! (and great photography, too!)
Wow! Cool! I have never seen this event myself before! Nice series of photos!
Wow! Wonderful.
Great post. I did a stone sculpture course and loved it, and I loved your photos – the creations are amazing
It is great to see such craftsmanship in this day and age of everything automated. Thanks for sharing this!
Interesting photos Bente. Thanks for giving me a tour of these wonderful craftspeople at work – something I’d never see over here in Melbourne, Aust.
Fascinating. Great post.
No imaginaba que hubiese tantas personas dedicadas solo en tu país se dedicasen a este arte, además la mayoría son jóvenes ¡me gusta!, gracias por compartir, besos
Fabulous Bente. When I was at Uni in Stirling, Scotland they were renovating the castle and had many stonemasons repairing the old stonework. It’s fascinating to watch these people at work. Great Post!
What a creativity…
Fabulous artistry on show!
What an amazing event…. I would LOVE to attend this someday! Thanks so much for sharing. Such talent, all in one place!
Thnx for the tour. It’s great to see the old craft hasn’t vanished.
(and by the way, I ‘d still like to find a handcarved socalled “Green Man” for my small garden)
It’s very interesting festival which I want to join it.
I love festivals like this. Wish I had been there to see the craftspeople work.
Those are awesome stone carvings!
Very interesting , Bente. Thank you for sharing. I
Ciao, Francina
These images are amazing….how wonderful to see these extraordinary artists at work…..THANK YOU for sharing!
Wonderful and very interesting. Great artists and photos.
Magnifikt arbete som de gör och tack för dina fina foton!
What a wonderful sight, it is interesting to see that most of the people photographed creating the sculptures are young, so carrying forward an ancient craft.
Wow, pretty cool!
This is very cool!
Very interesting fascinating to watch these artists at work!
There is something very exciting about working in stone. Usually it is a solitary occupation, and so having a festival like this, combines a social element to the art work. Your pictures tell a very graceful story.
I want the owl, I want the owl! What a wonderful event. I would have been beside myself to see something like that. Now that is worth going on a trip to see. Such a connection to the old world. You can see what a job it was to be able to carve something to be befitting for the church and that is not even to say what goes into the structure.
Bishop Museum was built from Basalt that was quarried right on the property. Charles Bishop was deathly afraid of the museum burning down such as happened in China town in the 1800′s. That stone work adds so much to the museum and it does not even come near what those stone masons are doing with their craft that you wrote about.
WOW! They all seem so happy by doing this… I wished to be there too… Seems so exciting, dear Bente. Thank you, love, nia
wooo, awesome!
Reblogged this on Space for lasam and commented:
Reblog: European Stone Festival 2012
by Bente Haarstad
poor that no such thing in HK.
It is good to learn that there are still so many active stonemasons. I’ve not heard of any similar event in the UK, Your pictures capture the atmosphere of the occasion quite beautifully.
I’m glad to learn stone masonry is still practised in such numbers.
It must have been fun to walk around and identify the characters carved.
Hi Bente,
Thanks for sharing this Stone Festival, looks very interesting. I wonder if there is any festival I could see during my visit this August. I’m flying to Norway on 11 August 2012. I look forward to see your beautiful country!
Regards,
Mafey
It depends were you are going, Mafey. Norway is such a long country but with few people, and it also depends on what you are interested in. Most festivals are about music. Here is a list of festivals in August (in Norwegian): http://www.aktivioslo.no/guide/festivaler/festivaler-i-august/.
Or maybe you find something on this site: http://www.visitnorway.com/en
Anyway, I hope you will have a really good time!
I’ll be visiting Oslo and will see if possible to go to Bergen with my limited time. Thank you very much for the link Bente. I see there’s also food festival
Thanks for sharing this amazing festival.