The Silo - Writing on the Wall

We are nearly at the end of our Heyerdahl tour and will make a short stop outside this majestic building. Today it houses a gym, but during the industrial period after the Second World War the building was a silo and an important part of the Treschow company’s wood manufacturing industry. The words you can see on the wall are one of Heyerdahls best known quotes and form part of Larvik Poetry Park. Heyerdahl repeated the quote on multiple occasions and in different forms and it can be interpreted in different ways, although not to mean that being self-absorbed is something positive. It is based on the realisation the young adventurer made after his expedition to Fatuhiva in 1937: It’s no longer any good turning the clock back and looking for paradise in nature, you will only find paradise within yourself. The installation using plexiglass was the ninth quote to be added as part of this unique poetry project, which is still ongoing. 60 such installations decorate the town today. It was the visual artist Louis Jacoby’s idea to create a poetry park. He was inspired by a quote on a wall in the village of Colla Micheri, which is located close to Larvik’s twin town, Andora on the Ligurian coast outside Genova in Italy. Thor Heyerdahl moved there in 1958 and the village – which he helped restore – was his heaven on earth. It was here he died on the 18th of April 2002. The idea behind the park is that poetry and literary quotes would become a feature in public spaces and give the inhabitants a new dimension of experience. It was meant as a small voice in the townscape, encouraging reflection and promoting well-being. Businesses in Larvik and the local borough came together to work on this project in 2006. The borough council made the decision to go ahead with the Poetry Park as a project led by the borough council on the 10th of May 2006. The Poetry Park has always had a committee with two representatives from local business and two from the borough administration as well as the person who initiated the idea. From the start, the vision has been that: Everyone who lives in or visits Larvik will be vitalised through the Poetry Park. Larvik Poetry Park also has a friendship association, established in 2010. While we are talking about Heyerdahl and quotes, there are several related to the seafarer on display in the town. On the Revestien walkway along the pier out to the east of the fjord, the following quote is engraved onto a large block of larvikite: Borders? I have never seen one. But I have heard they exist in the minds of some people. Thor Heyerdahl School of Further Education, which we will come back to, has the following motto which, if not a direct quote of the seafarer himself is certainly in line with his own world and vision: We are stronger together. We make each other better. We are on the same raft. Just over the road here, by the town’s lifegiving force, the Farriselva River, is our final stopping spot, the cultural centre Bølgen. The tour goes through the building and out to the space in front.