Tollerodden - Looking towards His Hometown

We have arrived at an area very clearly connected with Thor Heyerdahl. There is a monument in his honour here at Tollerodden, which deserves some explanation. The monument was created by the sculptor Nico Widerberg using a material from Larvik that is internationally prized, larvikite. It is a true portrait of Heyerdahl’s head mounted on a column and standing on a base which looks like a raft or the waves. This rests on two horizontal logs. The surface is unpolished, has elements of roughly hewn structures and the entire monument is five metres high. It is a grand monument which the viewer associates with the fascinating life’s journey of the honorary citizen. The choice of materials and individual elements are clearly symbolic: It is the discoverer and fearless raft captain we meet here. He is standing upright and proud in both calm and stormy weather and is carried forward by the element which above all became the foundation for his worldwide renown – the sea. At each side of the square, raft-shaped base resting on two “balsa logs” you can see the names and contours of the well-known rafts which have been carved in here: Kon-Tiki, Ra I, Ra II and Tigris. The inscription on the column reads, “Thor Heyerdahl – 75 years – 6/10 1989”, the year in which the monument was unveiled on the occasion of Heyerdahl’s 75th birthday. The honorary citizen was present when it was unveiled. We will come back to the location, but there are two reasons why Heyerdahl is turning his back to the sea. One is the fact that his great journey is over and the other is that the seafarer, at the age of 75, is turning his gaze towards the town where he grew up and the slopes where the seeds of his dreams were sown. The other reason is one that Heyerdahl himself mentioned at the unveiling: The monument has the same form as the famous and mysterious sculptures on Easter Island, which are also facing inland towards the open plain where the people are. Easter Island can be considered the focal point in Heyerdahl’s scientific efforts, lying out in the Pacific Ocean, the only significant piece of dry land between Peru and Polynesia. This is where he went in 1955 to 56 in search of evidence of people having travelled there by rafts in the Pre-Incan period. This would eventually support his theory on migration, which he investigated further on the Kon Tiki voyage. He also returned there on several expeditions in 1986, ‘87 and ‘88 to find out how these colossal statues with red hats could have been raised. Now a little information about the artist: Nico Widerberg was born in Oslo in 1960 and is the son of the well-known artist Frans Widerberg. Nico Widerberg prefers working within the classical, figurative tradition and since his debut in 1984, has had countless individual exhibitions and been assigned to produce works both in Norway and abroad. He calls the Heyerdahl monument his most important work, but he also made the Heyerdahl bust on display at Bølgen and at Thor Heyerdahl High School at Torstrand behind Fram Sports Association’s arena.