The bust of King Olav V of Norway (1903-1957-1991) is placed outside Lyngdal Municipality Hall (to call it "City Hall" or even "Town Hall" would not be accurate for this little place!) and was unveiled by Princess Astrid Mrs. Ferner on 10 May 2004. The bust was initiated by the dean of Flekkefjord 1979-1986, Paul Gerhardt Birkeland (1918-2008), an enthusiastic royalist who was quite alone among the Norwegian clergymen to criticize Crown Prince Haakon's relationship and later marriage to Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby. Birkeland was a rather conservative theologian, but was never a central or influential clergyman in the Church of Norway. He was, however, quite popular in his home district, and a street has been named after him in "downtown" Lyngdal (Prost Birkelands gate).Besides the King Olav V bust, Paul G. Birkeland also initiated a statue of King Olav II Haraldsson (St. Olav) outside Lyngdal church. The statue was unveiled by King Olav V in 1983.
(The photo was taken by my mobile phone camera in August 2010.)
References
- Refset Mette-Marit - fikk munnkurv (VG.no 19 July 2001)
- Paul G. Birkeland er død (FVN.no 21 October 2008)
No comments:
Post a Comment