Festiviteten – Dancing and Debates

We are standing outside Storgata 44, at Festiviteten. The building was built in two stages, beginning in 1792 and the festival building itself in 1873. The building housed one of the country’s best preserved historic concert and theatre halls and is one of the finest buildings in Larvik. Its interior has interested historians thanks to its romantic renditions of gothic and renaissance features. The brick building was designed by the famous architect Paul Due. The building will house the cultural café to be called “Ellings Café”. It is named after a character in novels written by the town’s fifth and most recent honorary citizen, the author Ingvar Ambjørnsen from Prinsegata. In Thor Heyerdahl’s day, the building housed Miss Dødelein’s school of dance. The five year-old from Steingata was sent there to learn the dance steps he would need in polite society, fitted out with patent shoes and a sailor suit, although dancing wasn’t Heyerdahl’s forté. He was rather awkward and had to sneak out into the corridor to draw the patterns for the waltz and tango on a piece of paper before going back in and tripping over his own feet as well as other people’s. It was love that drew him to the classes rather than dancing. He endured Miss Dødelein’s strict teaching methods thanks to a much younger lady. Thor called her Miss Lyserød (from the stories) and she was to be his first love. He said he gave her the nickname because, “She was a little lady of just the right age and was always in pink, so she was always Lyserød in my dreams. I had no interest at all in dancing, but thanks to Lyserød, my parents were able to keep me at the dance school for three whole seasons.” The Festiviteten would also be part of the explorer’s life in later years. In 1998, the borough council decided to pull part of the symbolic building down to make way for a new cultural centre with its own Heyerdahl centre. The discussions about this project continued for many years in Larvik without Heyerdahl being involved. He was living in Güimar in Tenerife at that time. In 2000, however, the honorary citizen gave a New Year speech which was broadcasted to his hometown as part of a large public event on New Year’s Eve. In the speech, he specifically encouraged the young people of the day to preserve historic buildings and to leave natural areas untouched. The National Trust of Norway in Larvik took his encouragement seriously and sent a letter to Heyerdahl asking him to support the campaign to save the building. His support came in the form of a letter which was printed in the organisation’s magazine and created interest in the media. “I do not like to get mixed up in any kind of political debate in by hometown, but I must say that I think it is wrong to pull this lovely old building down”, Heyerdahl continues: “I will feel embarrassed to have my name linked to a new building on the same site as the old Festiviteten. It had great significance for the cultural life of the town I grew up in.” As you can see, the building was not pulled down. The cultural centre that was to be built there was later erected down at Sanden and is the town’s largest cultural hall today, Bølgen. It is hard to say whether Heyerdahl’s contribution to the debate played a role in the preservation of the building, but the polite and educated seafarer’s words were unusually direct and showed that he had strong opinions about the environment, as well as cultural history and heritage. The majestic building behind the Festiviteten is our next stop.