Latest news with #PolarMuseum
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Yahoo
Tromsø, Norway: the Capital of the Arctic
Tromsø may be remote, located on a small island 344 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. But during the 19th century, visitors called it the Paris of the North. Finely dressed gentlemen strolled past grand townhouses. They owed their prosperity to the port, where merchant ships were loaded with fish, blubber and other wares. Nowadays you're more likely to see people in Tromsø wearing waterproof outdoor jackets. Hikers and skiers use the city as a base for exploring the region and climbing the mountains on the nearby island of Senja or in the Lyngen Alps, which reach heights of over 1,800 metres. Kayakers come to paddle through the Sommarøy archipelago. And during the peak winter season, tourists from all over the world, in particular East Asia, come to Tromsø to see the Northern Lights and whales, and to glide through the snow on dog sleds. What's Tromsø like outside of the winter season? It's a great destination for a city break - especially around mid-May, when the sun doesn't set and remains visible at night. Here are some recommendations for culture, gastronomy and outdoor activities: Culture: Tromsø's museums showcase the city's Arctic heritage The Polar Museum, located in a historic wooden house by Tromsø's harbour, may be rather stuffy and old-fashioned, but the photos, exhibits and anecdotes from Fridtjof Nansen's and Roald Amundsen's polar expeditions still fascinate to this day. The exhibition on the hunters who spent the winter on Svalbard and killed reindeer, seals, arctic foxes and polar bears spares no gory detail. The Polaria Arctic Experience Centre, located in a building modelled on ice floes, is much more than a museum. At the end of 2023, the exhibition was updated in line with recent findings on climate change. Displays include the teeth of a Greenland shark and a thecosomata or sea butterfly, whose calcified shell dissolves in the increasingly acidic sea. The panoramic cinema with a curved screen shows documentaries about the Northern Lights and the Svalbard archipelago. There is an open tank that's home to Northern species such as the spotted wolffish and halibut, while aquariums house starfish and translucent moon jellyfish. You can watch bearded seals and harbour seals as they hunt and pirouette through the green water. Feeding time is popular with the animals and visitors alike. Gastronomy: Nordic beer and computer games for afters Another landmark is Raketten Bar, the city's oldest kiosk located on Storgata, the main pedestrian street behind the harbour. Opened in 1911 by Margit Løkke, then 18, she sold newspapers, tobacco and fruit from the tiny pavilion for a quarter of a century. The kiosk survived a fire that burned down dozens of surrounding houses, as Siri Therese Lier, 51, a former tour guide and current owner of the Raketten Bar, explains. Lier wants to keep the famous snack stand exactly as it used to look. In the winter she sells 350 hot dogs on some days, with customers waiting in line for up to an hour. It's like the United Nations, Lier says. "People from all over the world come here and chat over food." Her bestseller is a reindeer and pork sausage, and there's also a vegan version. If you're feeling peckish, you can head to the tiny restaurant Burgr for great hamburgers with names like Super Mario and Bowser. One of the walls is covered with Nintendo and Atari video game posters, and on the Commodore 64 computer next to it, you can play an old game with a joystick. It's pure video game nostalgia for generation X and Y (millennials) in the Arctic. Tromsø is also home to some wonderful fish restaurants - you just have to be able to afford them. You can get a fish soup or fish and chips for a reasonable price at Dragøy, a restaurant inside Kystens Mathus, a modern addition to the Tromsø cityscape with a black facade. You can sit outside, directly at the water's edge. And if you're looking for a caffeine fix after your meal, stroll over to Kaffebønna, the city's oldest espresso café on the main square, Stortorget. If you fancy it, you can order a cinnamon bun from the adjoining bakery. From the outdoor tables you have a view of the harbour, the curved Tromsø Bridge and the Arctic Cathedral on the other side of the water. With its glass facade and white tiered roof, it's one of the city's most recognisable landmarks. You can also quench your thirst for beer. The Mack brewery, one of the northernmost in the world, was founded in 1877 by the German Ludwig Mack. At the Ølhallen pub next door, which features exposed brick walls and a vaulted wooden ceiling, historical photos on the walls and a stuffed polar bear, you can choose from 72 different beers. There are guided tours and brewing seminars which promise: "At the end of the course you'll know enough to be able to brew your own beer!" Outdoors: Hiking, paddling and a floating spa The best way to digest your meal and get a view of the city is to climb Tromsø's local mountain, Storsteinen. The 1,300 stone steps of the Sherpa trail take you to the mountain ledge, 421 metres above sea level. Alternatively, you can take the Fjellheisen cable car. Tromsø, the fjords and the mountain ranges on the horizon - you can see it all from the terrace of the mountain station. Follow the winding hills up the meadow slope and it's a half-hour walk to the next summit. Fløya mountain offers even more stunning views. At the top you're likely to meet mountain bikers who come up here to wind down after work. If you've worked up a sweat after your bike ride or hike, you might want to think twice about cooling off in Telegrafbukta (Telegraph Bay). Even in August, the warmest month of the year in Tromsø, the water in the popular bay in the southwest of the city never gets warmer than 10 degrees Celsius, and in May temperatures remain in the single digits. But the view of the bay, which you can reach by taking bus 33 or walking three kilometres from the city centre, is always beautiful. The water is clear, shimmering in turquoise. Beyond the fjord are the mountains, which are covered in snow all year round. You see students playing beach volleyball; Tromsø is the northernmost university town in the world. Families barbecue in the wooded area next to it. A visit during the period of the midnight sun, when the sun doesn't set between the May 20 and July 22, is an extra special experience. Everyone is full of energy and in party mode, cycling, hiking and going on picnics until late into the night. Or head out onto the fjord on the floating spa: On the former fishing boat "Vulkana" there is a sauna with a panorama window, a Turkish hammam with a cold pool and a wood-fired whirlpool on the deck. You can also book a midnight cruise that takes you through Tromsø's stunning fjords.
Telegraph
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Cambridge University is embarrassingly stupid if it thinks exploring the Antarctic was ‘colonialism'
Right now, somewhere in Antarctica, a waddle of politically active penguins is drawing up a list of demands for Keir Starmer. Two-hundred-odd years after an injustice that's still too painful for many to talk about, these flightless marine birds have decided to seek reparations. They want justice and redress for the historical harm colonialists caused them when they effectively invaded the continent. They want financial compensation, apologies and restitutions for the exploitation their tuxedo-wearing forefathers endured. Also, a dozen large barrels of krill, please. The penguins had no idea they were victims of colonialism until this month. None of us did. But thanks to a new display at the University of Cambridge's Polar Museum, our eyes have been opened to a lesser-known act of historical abuse. And by 'lesser-known', I mean grievously, historically inaccurate. As part of the latest effort by the university's museums to deal with subjects related to empire (and if you're not afraid of wild and illogical tangents, almost every subject can be), and a project aimed at 'confronting Cambridge's colonial story', new signs have been put up informing visitors that expeditions to the South Pole were 'in the colonial mould'. One sign for an Antarctic display at the museum reads: 'The colonised Antarctic?' And every journalist will have laughed at the question mark – famously the hallmark of a completely unsubstantiated story. (So the next time you see a headline like: 'Is your bubble bath killing you?' rest assured, it is not.) The Polar Museum, however, seems to be completely po-faced, continuing its blurb with: 'at the beginning of the 20th century little was known about Antarctica. This set the stage for a number of famous expeditions to reach the South Pole. At the same time, these expeditions were in the colonial mould – claiming land, mapping, prospecting for resources, even sending stamps as a sign of ownership.' Even when we are not the villains, certain institutions are hell-bent on portraying us as villainous. And that curators have added the line, 'the only difference was that there was not an indigenous population in Antarctica', makes this desperate attempt to drag colonisation into things still more farcical. By 'the only difference', what they mean is: 'the only thing that makes the above statement completely invalid and nonsensical… is the fact that the continent had no inhabitants aside from penguins to conquer or exploit at the time.' Definitions are no longer definitive, as we know. Today, even after a judge has ruled a woman a woman and a fact a fact, they are basically considered elastic, open to interpretation – to a person's 'lived' (or indeed un-lived) 'experience'. And whereas most dictionary definitions of colonialism would be variants on 'the policy or practice of acquiring control of another country and its people and exploiting both economically,' the Cambridge Dictionary broadens it out to: 'the belief in and support for the system of one country controlling another.' Call me naïve, but I was sort of hoping that the era of wilful biological and historical inaccuracies was nearing an end. As useful as it obviously is for woke institutions to be able to twist words and expressions to fit their agendas, there is the problem of it being misleading – of young people leaving the Polar Museum and telling all their friends down the pub: ' Did you know that we colonised Antarctica? ' This is particularly problematic in the case of museums, given that they are essentially churches of fact. The one thing they are supposed to worship is historical truth. Beyond that, I can't help but wonder whether Cambridge is showing itself as a little outdated here – embarrassingly behind the curve in the way that only universities can be? Because after reaching peak worthiness in the early 2020s – when museums came close to selling hair shirts beside the tea towels in their gift shops – there has now been a noticeable pushback against that self-flagellatory culture, with the new director of the British Museum, Dr Nicholas Cullinan, setting the tone. Asked, last year, whether he was keen on the 'sort of hyper-politically correct labelling of exhibits we've seen elsewhere, notably at Tate Britain', Dr Cullinan was unequivocal. 'No. What I mean is making sure our scholarship is up to date, not conforming to a particular sort of political agenda.' I think most would agree that for a museum, that should be the focus.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cambridge University is embarrassingly stupid if it thinks exploring the Antarctic was ‘colonialism'
Right now, somewhere in Antarctica, a waddle of politically active penguins is drawing up a list of demands for Keir Starmer. Two-hundred-odd years after an injustice that's still too painful for many to talk about, these flightless marine birds have decided to seek reparations. They want justice and redress for the historical harm colonialists caused them when they effectively invaded the continent. They want financial compensation, apologies and restitutions for the exploitation their tuxedo-wearing forefathers endured. Also, a dozen large barrels of krill, please. The penguins had no idea they were victims of colonialism until this month. None of us did. But thanks to a new display at the University of Cambridge's Polar Museum, our eyes have been opened to a lesser-known act of historical abuse. And by 'lesser-known', I mean grievously, historically inaccurate. As part of the latest effort by the university's museums to deal with subjects related to empire (and if you're not afraid of wild and illogical tangents, almost every subject can be), and a project aimed at 'confronting Cambridge's colonial story', new signs have been put up informing visitors that expeditions to the South Pole were 'in the colonial mould'. One sign for an Antarctic display at the museum reads: 'The colonised Antarctic?' And every journalist will have laughed at the question mark – famously the hallmark of a completely unsubstantiated story. (So the next time you see a headline like: 'Is your bubble bath killing you?' rest assured, it is not.) The Polar Museum, however, seems to be completely po-faced, continuing its blurb with: 'at the beginning of the 20th century little was known about Antarctica. This set the stage for a number of famous expeditions to reach the South Pole. At the same time, these expeditions were in the colonial mould – claiming land, mapping, prospecting for resources, even sending stamps as a sign of ownership.' Even when we are not the villains, certain institutions are hell-bent on portraying us as villainous. And that curators have added the line, 'the only difference was that there was not an indigenous population in Antarctica', makes this desperate attempt to drag colonisation into things still more farcical. By 'the only difference', what they mean is: 'the only thing that makes the above statement completely invalid and nonsensical… is the fact that the continent had no inhabitants aside from penguins to conquer or exploit at the time.' Definitions are no longer definitive, as we know. Today, even after a judge has ruled a woman a woman and a fact a fact, they are basically considered elastic, open to interpretation – to a person's 'lived' (or indeed un-lived) 'experience'. And whereas most dictionary definitions of colonialism would be variants on 'the policy or practice of acquiring control of another country and its people and exploiting both economically,' the Cambridge Dictionary broadens it out to: 'the belief in and support for the system of one country controlling another.' Call me naïve, but I was sort of hoping that the era of wilful biological and historical inaccuracies was nearing an end. As useful as it obviously is for woke institutions to be able to twist words and expressions to fit their agendas, there is the problem of it being misleading – of young people leaving the Polar Museum and telling all their friends down the pub: 'Did you know that we colonised Antarctica?' This is particularly problematic in the case of museums, given that they are essentially churches of fact. The one thing they are supposed to worship is historical truth. Beyond that, I can't help but wonder whether Cambridge is showing itself as a little outdated here – embarrassingly behind the curve in the way that only universities can be? Because after reaching peak worthiness in the early 2020s – when museums came close to selling hair shirts beside the tea towels in their gift shops – there has now been a noticeable pushback against that self-flagellatory culture, with the new director of the British Museum, Dr Nicholas Cullinan, setting the tone. Asked, last year, whether he was keen on the 'sort of hyper-politically correct labelling of exhibits we've seen elsewhere, notably at Tate Britain', Dr Cullinan was unequivocal. 'No. What I mean is making sure our scholarship is up to date, not conforming to a particular sort of political agenda.' I think most would agree that for a museum, that should be the focus. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Daily Mail
28-04-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Exploring Antarctic was colonialism, claims Cambridge University (even though only penguins live there)
The exploration of Antarctica was an example of colonialism despite only penguins living there, Cambridge University has claimed. Its Polar Museum looks after 5,000 objects, including artefacts linked to explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. But in the latest effort by the university's museums to deal with subjects related to empire, signs have been put up as part of a project aimed at 'confronting Cambridge's colonial story'. These inform visitors that the daring and often fatal expeditions to the South Pole were 'in the colonial mould'. This is despite the continent having no inhabitants, aside from penguins, to conquer or exploit at the time. A sign for an Antarctic display at the museum reads: 'The colonised Antarctic? At the beginning of the 20th century little was known about Antarctica. 'This set the stage for a number of famous expeditions to reach the South Pole. At the same time, these expeditions were in the colonial mould – claiming land, mapping, prospecting for resources, even sending stamps as a sign of ownership.' The label adds: 'The only difference was that there was not an indigenous population in Antarctica.' The Cambridge Dictionary defines colonialism as 'the belief in and support for the system of one country controlling another'. However, the Oxford Dictionary Of Human Geography defines it as: 'The control over one territory and its peoples by another.' The signage was installed as part of the university's 'Power and Memory' project, which addresses the institution's links to colonialism, empire and slavery, The Sunday Telegraph reported. As part of this, the Polar Museum carried out work to reveal 'hidden histories' in its collection to show a different side to Arctic and Antarctic exploration. One sign states that during meetings between explorers and indigenous populations, 'colonial expeditions would usually hold the power'. Others draw attention to the contribution by black people in the field of polar research. It comes as the university's Fitzwilliam Museum hosts an exhibition, Rise Up, about the history of slavery and its abolition. The catalogue claims that physicist Stephen Hawking, and others, benefited from slavery-derived funds given to Cambridge 200 years before he was born. Professors and historians, however, have accused the museum's bosses of misreading history.
Telegraph
26-04-2025
- Science
- Telegraph
Britain's exploration of South Pole was ‘colonial', claims museum
A Cambridge University museum has claimed Britain's exploration of Antarctica was ' colonial ' – despite only penguins living there. The university's Polar Museum holds personal artefacts linked to the explorers of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, including Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. The museum informs visitors that the daring and often fatal expeditions to the South Pole were 'in the colonial mould', despite the southernmost continent having no human population to conquer or exploit. Signs pointing out colonial connections were installed as part of a project aimed at 'confronting Cambridge's colonial story'. The signage for an Antarctic display at the museum reads: 'The colonised Antarctic? At the beginning of the 20th century little was known about Antarctica. 'This set the stage for a number of famous expeditions to reach the South Pole. 'At the same time, these expeditions were in the colonial mould – claiming land, mapping, prospecting for resources, even sending stamps as a sign of ownership. The label adds: 'The only difference was that there was not an indigenous population in Antarctica.' The Polar Museum is part of the Scott Polar Research Institute, named for the famed explorer, which is itself part of the university's department of geography. The signage was installed as part of Cambridge's 'Power and Memory' project to address the university's links to colonialism, empire, and slavery. As part of this, the Polar Museum undertook work to reveal 'hidden histories' in its collection, to show a different side to Arctic and Antarctic exploration. Labels direct visitors to the fact that 'the extraction of natural resources has been a primary part of colonial expeditions in the Arctic'. One sign critiques the word 'encounter', stating that in meetings between explorers and indigenous populations 'colonial expeditions would usually hold the power'. Other labels draw attention to the contributions of women and black people in the field of polar research. Cambridge's past controversies The University of Cambridge's museums have made efforts to confront the subjects of empire and colonialism, and the Fitzwilliam Museum dedicated a recent exhaustion to the history of slavery and its abolition. A catalogue accompanying the exhibition, titled Rise Up, claimed Stephen Hawking and others benefited from slavery-derived funds given to Cambridge two centuries before the physicist was born. Cambridge professors and leading historians contested the claims, insisting they were made on the grounds of a misreading of history. Before this row, the same institution caused controversy when it rehung many of its artworks. The Fitzwilliam suggested that paintings of the British countryside evoke dark 'nationalist feelings'. The new signage stated that pictures of 'rolling English hills' can stir feelings of 'pride towards a homeland', but that works by Constable and others have a 'darker side'.
