This year’s tourist stamps feature buildings with a special architectural style. They range widely from the Borgund Stave Church Visitors’ Centre to the world’s best insulated freezer on Svalbard. The architect firms responsible for designing the buildings (as listed below) are Barlindhaug Consulting, Helen & Hard and Askim/Lantto.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was inaugurated in 2008. Carved into the permafrost not far from Longyearbyen, this vault contains storage room for up to four million different types of seed. Its purpose is to help preserve existing plant life from extinction and from global disasters. Gene banks all over the world will send duplicates of their seeds to Svalbard, and seed from all over the globe will thus be secured for the future. At the opening ceremony, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso described the facility as a “frozen Garden of Eden”.

Preikestolen Mountain Lodge was opened in 2008 and is owned by the Stavanger Tourist Association. It is open all year round for tourists who visit the popular Pulpit Rock overlooking the Lyse Fjord. Many people also use the mountain lodge as a base for their own activities. Even golfers find their way to Preikestolen Mountain Lodge. There is an attractive (and challenging) golf course near by. In 2009, the mountain lodge was awarded Statens byggeskikkpris, one of the most highly regarded architectural prizes in Norway.

The Borgund Stave Church Visitors’ Centre was opened in 2005. It houses a comprehensive exhibition of Norwegian stave churches in general and of Borgund Stave Church in particular. We can, for example, find copies of carvings and details from the church. Borgund Stave Church was first mentioned in written sources in 1342, but growth rings show that the timber used to build the church was felled in the winter 1180-81. The church was probably built soon after that, i.e. before 1200. The stave church was in regular use until 1858, when the new Borgund Church beside it was completed. The stave church and the visitors’ center are run by the Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments.

The stamp issue also marks the centenary of the National Association of Norwegian Architects. The Year of Architecture 2011 is Norway’s largest architectural event ever, a nationwide project with over 100 small and large events.

Source: Norway Post

published April 21st, 2011