Norges museumsforbund

Din interesseorganisasjon for museumspolitisk arbeid og faglig utvikling

Fifth fact finding trip to German museums and heritage institutions

·

Saernieprieve 19 – Dávvirat Duiskkas – tsïengelen/ goevten 2024     

In December 2024, Dávvirat Duiskkas‘ fifth fact finding trip to German museums and heritage institutions took place. Since this was also the last trip, the invitation was extended to include the directors of the Norwegian Sámi museums, a representative from the Norwegian Sámi Parliament, the Sámi Museums Association in Norway, and the Norwegian Museums Association in addition to usual representatives of the six museums. The destinations in Germany were Museum Natur und Mensch in Freiburg im Bresgau and Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen in Mannheim, both in Southwest Germany, and Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden in Eastern Germany. The week-long trip, from December 2-6, started in Basel and ended in Berlin. In Berlin we visited the exhibition „Áimmuin Re-Connecting Sámi Heritage“ at Museum Europäischer Kulturen.  Then we celebrated the completion of the first phase of the project by a reception at the Norwegian embassy’s residence in Grünewald.

The whole group outside the lunch place in Freiburg including our hosts Maximilian Hollerith and Nicole Rumert (to the right). From the left: Janne Hansen (DD/Sámi Parliament), Nanni Westerfjeld (Sámi Parliament), Lisa Dunfjeld-Aagård (Saemien Sijte), Kjersti Myrnes Balto (Várdobáiki), Anne-May Olli (RiddoDuottarMuseat), Jorunn Jernsletten (DD/Deanu ja Várjjat Museasiida), Mariann Magga (Deanu ja Várjjat Museasiida), Liv Ramskjær (Norwegian Museums Association), Harrieth Aira (Árran), Elle Bals (RiddoDuottarMuseat), Hanna-Maaria Kiprianoff (Deanu ja Várjjat Museasiida), Sunneva Sætevik (DD/Ministry of Culture and Equality), Ánne-Magga Wigelius (Deanu ja Várjjat Museasiida), Sissel Ann Mikkelsen (DD/Sámi Museums), Lisa Vangen (Center for Northern Peoples) Thomas Ole Andersen (Várdobáiki). Photo: Unknown.

Museum Natur und Mensch in Freiburg

Freiburg is an old university town[i] and archiepiscopal seat located in the Breisgau, one of Germany’s warmest regions, and at the foothills of the Black Forest. As the name indicates, Museum Natur und Mensch combines natural history and ethnology. Established originally as the Natur- und Völkerkunde museums in 1895,[ii] the ethnological collection contains over 20 000 objects.[iii] Most of the objects came to Freiburg during the German colonial period (1884-1918). A small part comes from university collections. Other objects were received through purchase, bequest, or exchange. However a large part of the collection was donated by Freiburg citizens.[iv]

 

According to the current state of knowledge the Sámi collection at Museum Natur und Mensch consists of 88 objects and 10 historical photographs.[v] More than half of the collection, 63 objects, entered the museum between 1899 and 1934. For the remaining objects the accession date is not registered. A knife with horn handle and sheat (III/1276) donated by Dr. F. Hieber is the first Sámi object to enter the collection according to the current state of knowledge. The oldest dated object is a small model of a sledge (III/1282) that was bought in Tromsø in 1882 and given to the museum by Baron Otto Stockhorner von Starein in 1905.[vi] Eleven objects, mainly of fur, were de-accessed in 1958-1959.[vii] The provenance of the Freiburg collection is mainly stated as „Europa; Lappland“ or „Lappland“. However, 32 objects were bought from Tromsø Museum, now The Arctic University Museum of Norway in 1903. The purchase included two horn spoons.[viii] Other objects, such as a model of a wooden cradle (III/1269), was bought from Arthur Speyer (1858-1923)[ix] for 6 Marks in 1901 but according to the description it „orginates from the museum in Bergen“ now the University Museum of Bergen.

Anne-May Olli (RiddoDuottarMuseat) and Diane Lanz (conservator of the Ethnological Collection, Museum Natur und Mensch) inspect III/1211, a beaska (reindeer fur coat) from Finnmark that was purchased from Tromsø Museum in 1903. Photo: C. Baglo.
Miniature cradle (III/1269) bought from ought from Arthur Speyer for 6 [Marks] in 1901, but originating from Bergen Museum now Bergen University Museum. Ethnological Collection, Museum Natur und Mensch, Freiburg. December 2024.Photo: C. Baglo.
A full-size Sámi cradle with among other things a child’s hat inside (III/1248). Donated to the museum by Mrs. Holz and Mr. Kapferer in 1912. According to the museum’s documentation the cradle was bought in Reykjavik, Iceland. Ethnological Collection, Museum Natur und Mensch, Freiburg. December 2024.
The child’s hat inside (III/1248). Photo: C. Baglo.

A collection that created a particular stir was the woven ribbons, straps, and belts that were donated to the museum by Mrs. Marie Sophie Tauern in 1934. Along with the objects the museum received some of Mrs. Tauern’s notes and drawings of the weaving patterns.[i] It is not known where and when Mrs. Tauern acquired the objects. It is however known that she and her husband, Dr. Odo Deodatus Tauern who was honorary head of the ethnological department of the former museum (now Museum Natur und Mensch) from 1919-1920, had been to Norway on their honeymoon.[ii]

With the exception of „Harstad“/Hárstták, a coastal city in southern Troms, no place names are mentioned in Mrs. Tauern‘s notes. However, two personal names are mentioned: „Eleon [sic] ØAxe [sic] Kulseng“ by Harstad and „Anna Maria Walkiabä“.[iii]  Indeed, Kulseng is a non-Sámi last name known in the Harstad area. The last person is probably identical to Anna Maria Andersdtr. Valkepää born at Lyngseidet/Ivgumuotki in 1886, another village along the route of the coastal steamer, and registered as resident of Aagjevarre in Kautokeino/Guovdageaidnu in 1920.[iv]

Jorunn Jernsletten (with face mask) shares her knowledge on weaving, including tablet weaving. Mrs. Tauern’s collection of woven ribbons, straps, and belts in the Ethnological Collection, Museum Natur und Mensch. December 2024. Photo: C. Baglo.

Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen – Museum of World Cultures in Mannheim

The Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen – Museum of World Cultures (Museum Weltkulturen) is located in Mannheim, a cultural and economic centre 200 km northeast of Freiburg. The Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen consist of four museums and the collections’ holdings date back to the day of the Prince Electors Carl Philipp (1661-1742) and Carl Theodor (1724-1799) of the Palatinate (Kurfürstentum Pfalz in German), a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. Today the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen have established themselves as international venues for exhibitions and research and are particularly active in natural sciences, humanities, technology, and education.[i]

 

The Museum of World Cultures was built in 1988 and holds approximately 40 000 objects.[ii] Only a few hundred of these are from Europe. The museum’s Sámi collection seems to count 68 objects and includes a very well-preserved Sámi bowl drum and a drum hammer. The drum entered the collection in 1882. The drum’s age and origin is unknown but it is identified as a Lule Sámi type.[iii] Almost all the collection was purchased in Norway in the years 1929 and 1937 through or by the German ethnologist and travel book writer Erich Wustmann (1907 – 1994).[iv]  One part of the collection seem to originate from the Narvik area and the other from the Karasjok area.[v]

Dr. Sarah Nelly Friedland (to the right), director of archeology and world cultures at Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen welcomes Dàvvirat Duiskkas to the facilities where the Sámi drum and the drum hammer has been a part of the exhibition MusikWelten (Music Worlds) since 2011. The exhibition offers a sensual approach to the human phenomenon of music. Photo: C. Baglo.
Sissel Ann Mikkelsen, coordinator for the Sámi museums, and Harrieth Aira, collection manager at Árran Lule Sámi Center studies the goabdes (drum in Lule Sámi) at Museum Weltkulturen in Mannheim. The drum (ll a Eu 116) and the drum hammer (II a Eu 224) are displayed in a part of the exhibition Music Worlds that is titled “God is a DJ”. Photo: Sunneva Sætevik.
Detail from the exhibition of the Sámi drum (ll a Eu 116). The drum and the drum hammer are first mentioned in Mannheim in 1859 and in relation to the city’s antiquities association. After World War II the association’s collection was added to the museum. The drum is characterized as a Lule Sámi type based on comparison. Photo: C. Baglo.

The first part of the Wustmann collection was collected by Pher Thuuri/Pehr Thuuri in Narvik[i] who sold the objects through Wustmann to Mannheim.[ii] Wustmann himself never saw the objects. We know this as the Museum of World Cultures has 15 letters from Thuuri to Wustmannn from the years 1928 to 1930.[iii] The letters include lists of ethnographic items, lists of indigenous terms with explanations, and narratives and stories. In fact, Wustmann emigrated to Norway. From 1934 to 1935 he lived in Karasjok and Porsanger where he recorded a number of joiks on wax roll phonographs.[iv] He also published two books from this stay, “1000 Meilen im Rentierschlitten” (A thousand miles in a reindeer sleigh, 1955) and “Klingende Wildnis” (The sounds of the wilderness, 1956). After the German occupation of Norway in 1940, Wustmann was expelled by the Quisling government.

Group photo with part of the staff at Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen – Museum of World Cultures in Mannheim. First row from the left: Dr. Doris Döppes, Nanni Mari Westerfjeld, master student Chiara Montebello from the University of Heidelberg, Dr. Corinna Erckenbrecht and Jamie Dau. Second row: Cathrine Baglo, Ánne Mágga Wigelius and Birgitta Fossum. Third row: Harrieth Aira, Sissel Ann Mikkelsen and Sunneva Sætevik. Fourth row: Kjersti Myrnes Balto and Mariann Wollmann Magga. Fifth row: Janne Hansen, Elle Bals and Hanna-Maaria Kiprianoff. Sixth row: Lisa Dunfjeld-Aagård, Kai Rune Hætta, Anne May Olli and Dr. Sarah Nelly Friedland, director of archeology and world cultures. Back row: Thomas Ole Andersen, Jorunn Jernsletten, Lisa Vangen and Liv Ramskjær. Photo: C. Baglo.
Wednesday December 4th, we visited the museum depo of Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen – Museum of World Cultures. Dr. Sylvia Mitschke conservator at REM shows Lisa Vangen (museum leader at the Center of northern peoples), Kai Rune Hætta (chairman of the Sámi Museums Association) and Liv Ramskjær (general secretary of the Norwegian Museums Association) a man’s leather belt. Evidently II a Eu 48 in the Wustmann collection. The belt came to the museum from Norway in 1923. Photo: C. Baglo.
The former municipal Reiss-museum in Mannheim (Städtische Völkerkundliche Sammlung) was proud of its newly established Sámi collection. Dr. Sylvia Mitschke at Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen shows an excerpt from the museum chronicle (written by the secretary Erna Kalkhoff) from May 1937 where the museum director at the time, Robert Pfaff-Giesberg, his secretary and another person pose outside what is now restaurant Ganush (where Dávvirat Duiskkas with guests dined the evening before). The two last are wearing Sámi clothing from the collection. Photo. C. Baglo.
Wool shawl or piece of cloth (II a Eu 62). Purchased by Erich Wustmann in Norway and included in the Mannheim collection in 1937. Shortly before Wustmann had lived in Karasjok (inland) and Porsanger (coast) in Finnmark. Photo: C. Baglo.
Suohpan (lasso) and čoarvegiella (lasso ring made of horn in North Sámi) with owner initials (II a Eu 7). Such suohpanat were typically made of sinew from reindeer, most likely foot sinews. Sinew from several reindeer were used to make one suophpan. Purchased by Wustmann in Norway. Added to the Mannheim collection in 1923. Photo: C. Baglo.
Elle Bals from Kautokeino Municipal Museum/RiddoDuoattarMuseat studies the geres (sledge in North Sámi, II a Eu 3) in the Mannheim collection. The sledge entered the collection in 1929 and was purchased in Norway by Erich Wustmann. Mariann Magga (left), Thomas Ole Andersen, and Kjersti Myrnes Balto observe. Photo: A.M. Wigelius.

Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden

Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden, previously Königliches Zoologisches und Anthropologisches Ethnographisches Museum (Royal Zoological and Anthropological Ethnographic Museum), was founded in 1875.[i] Along with Grassi Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig, which Dávvirat Duiskkas visited in October 2022, the museum forms part of today’s Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) owned by the state of Saxony. The institution’s fifteen museums are some of the oldest and most renowned in the world and trace their origin to the collections of the Saxon electors in the 16th century.[ii] From 1879 to 1941, Museum für Völkerkunde was open to the public at the Dresden Zwinger, a baroque palace and architectural monument that was badly damaged in World War II. In 1977 the museum reopened in Japanisches Palais on the Neustadt bank of the river Elbe.[iii]

Museum educator Margareta Bijvank at SKD gives Dávvirat Duiskkas a tour of the new Damaskus Room at Japanisches Palais. The exhibition provides insights into Damascene hospitality in the 19th century, the capital of what today is a war-torn Syria. Most of the exhibition site at Japanischer Palais is currently closed. A new presentation of the collection is being developed together with scientists and researchers from the regions where the objects once came from. The new exhibitions will be dedicated to the transcultural past of the museum’s own collections and previously untold stories. Photo: C. Baglo.

There are in other words good reasons for museum staff to spend time in Dresden. However, Dávvirat Duiskkas‘ participants were put off with a few hours as usual. Although we visited Japanisches Palais briefly, our time was mostly spent at Museum für Völkerkunde’s depository outside of the city. Colleagues from Grassi Museum escorted us. In the three first decades of the museum’s existence, European culture played only a minor role.[i] This changed when Arnold Jacobi, a zoologist and ethnologist, became the director in 1906. [ii] Jacobi developed a collection concept that included what he called “peripheral cultures of Europe with pre-industrial ways of life.”[iii] Cultural artifacts from Scandinavia, the Basque Country, Sicily, Sardinia, the Balkans, the Alpine countries, and Russia were collected through trips by staff and purchases from travelers and dealers. Jacobi himself visited Sámi areas (northern Sweden) in 1908 and brought back 30 objects, both natural specimens and cultural artefacts. 17 are still in existence.

Available to the public at Japanischer Palais was also a small temporary exhibition where a čoarvebaste, horn spoon in North Sámi (inv. nr. 26921), was exhibited. The spoon came to Dresden from Northern Sweden in 1908 and was collected by the former museum director, Arnold Jacobi. According to the inventory list, the spoon was made from “a human skull cap” and used in sacred context. That remains to be verified. Photo: C. Baglo.
Dr. Birgit Scheps-Bretschneider from Grassi Museum in Leipzig and head of provenance research and restitution at SKD (Dresden State Art Collections) gives an introduction to the history of Museum für Völkerkunde and its collections. Next to her Marita Andó, Melanie Meier, Dr. Sylvia Karges, director of the Numismatics Cabinet, Gabi Richter, Interim director State oft he Ethnographic Collections of Saxony, and Anne May Olli, director of RiddoDuoattarMuseat. Dávvirat Duiskkas‘ steering group leader and director at Saemien Sijte South Sami Museum, Birgitta Fossum, in the foreground. Photo. C. Baglo.

Today, the Sámi collection in Dresden counts around 220 objects and 24 photographs.[i] Originally the collection has counted around 300 objects but 77 are lost.[ii] With the exception of the horn spoon mentioned above (inv. nr. 26921) none of the objects are currently on display. The objects were mainly collected between 1908 and 1916. The largest collection, around 200 numbers, came to the museum between 1912 and 1916 from the collector and ethnographic dealer Julius Konietzko.[iii]

Our colleagues at Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden had prepared almost the entire collection on two tables. In the foreground Else Kveinen from the Norwegian embassy to Germany and an observer in Dávvirat Duiskkas steering group. Photo: C. Baglo.
In addition to the objects themselves, the original index cards and other archivalia were brought out. Lisa Vangen at Center of northern peoples and Birgit Scheps-Bretschneider at Dresden State Art Collections take a look. Photo: C. Baglo.
Inv. Nr. 35283. Barra-klaahka (South Sami). Antler sheath with brass mounting to protect the tip of the hunting spear or “Aufsatz aus Renhorn für die Spitze des Bärenspießes” as it is written on the index card. Collected by Julius Konietzko in northern Jämtland in 1914. Photo: C. Baglo.
Index card of Inv. Nr. 35283. Photo: C. Baglo.
Kjersti Myrnes Balto, director at Várdobáiki Sámi Museum, with a leather belt (Inv. Nr. 26907) with a set of two knives (Inv. Nr. 26908 and Inv. Nr. 26918). The knife belt was collected by Arnold Jacobi in “Swedish Lapland” in 1908. Such broad belts are typical of the Torne Sámi area, Kjersti explains, which on the Norwegian side refers to the region and the dialect spoken in Northern Nordland and Southern Troms where Várdobáiki is located. Photo: C. Baglo.

A digital supplement was made available to us by the Grassi Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig. Numerous Sámi artefacts were lost at the Leipzig Museum due to bombing during World War II. Only the catalogue cards remain. Among the objects that were lost – most of them clothing in textile, fur, and hide – are various items that were given or sold by Meinert (1873, 8 objects), [Carl] Hagenbeck (1875, 52 objects), [Johann Friedrich Gustav] Umlauff (1904, more than 120 objects including three hornhats) and [Franz] Dubbick (1926, 102 objects). Both Hagenbeck and Dubbick, party also Umlauff who was Hagenbeck’s brother-in-law, were involved in the living exhibitions of Sámi; Hagenbeck as exhibition organizer in 1875 (people from Karesuando/Tromsø), 1879 (Karasjok/Kautokeino) and 1926 (Røros/Härjedalen, by that time Hagenbeck himself had passed but his firm continued) and Dubbick as recruiter and impresario in 1924-1925 (Kittilä/area around Enontekiö) and 1930 (Kautokeino/Karesuando/Enontekiö). Photo: M. Meier.
The oldest and most notable artifact in the Dresden collection however is a Sámi ceremonial bowl drum (Inv. Nr. 8537 or). The drum was given to Elector Johan Georg II (1613-1680) of Saxony by Christian Albrecht (1641-1694), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (now Gottorf) in 1668 along with the painting „Dis sint de Sitten von Laplant“ (Such are the customs in Lapland).[i]As explained in the catalogue from an exhibition in 2004 „Gifts to the Residence: Ethnographic treasures from the Electoral-Royal Collections of Dresden“, the two-part oil on canvas painting that depicts everyday life in a summer and a winter scene, was probably meant to illustrate the historical contexts and use of the drum for the receiver. [ii] The painting was probably made shortly after Christianization and by a firsthand witness. Such scenes were not available to copyists until the publication of the book Lapponia by the German-Swedish scholar Johannes Scheffer in 1673.[iii]

The drum probably has its origins in the Lule Sámi area according to the Swedish ethnographer Ernst Manker (1938).[i]  The drum came to Dresden with a hammer that has been missing since 1783.[ii]  The painting was also missing for a long time but re-appeared about twenty years ago and is now a part of the permanent (summer) exhibition at Kriebstein Castle in Central Saxony. The drumskin is cracked in a few places and some of the original stitching has been repaired but the drum is otherwise well-preserved. The drum is made out of pine and the ornamentation is abundant and delicate. The paintings on the drumskin feature a number of animal motifs such as mammals, birds, and fishing waters with fish, but no reindeer.[iii]

Melanie Meier at Dresden State Art Collections shows Sissel Ann Mikkelsen, coordinator for the Norwegian Sámi museums and Harrieth Aira from Árran Lule Sámi Center, the drum (Inv. Nr. 8537) that Christian Albrecht of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp gave to Johan Georg II of Saxony in 1668. But where did the duke get the drum from? As Manker writes, the duke had close connections to the Swedish royal house. The Swedish queen dowager, the mother of King Charles XI, Hedvig Eleonora, was the duke‘s sister. But the duke had close connections to Denmark-Norway too. In 1667, the year before the drum arrived in Dresden, Christian Albrecht had married Princess Fredrikke Amalie, daughter of King Frederick III of Denmark and Norway as part of the peace treaty between Denmark-Norway and Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (the so-called Glückstadt Treaty). Furter investigations may reveal new knowledge. Photo: C. Baglo.

We thought there was only drum at Museum für Völkerkunde in Dresden. However, as we were examining the collection the curator Juliane Ziegler showed us another bowl drum that was not described by Manker in the 1930s. The drum (Eu 16764) is part of the collection at Grassi Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig but is currently in the care of Ziegler in Dresden because the drumskin is torn. The drum came to the museum in Leipzig in the 1970’s from the Schwerin Castle, the home of the dukes and grand dukes of Mecklenburg and later Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-east Germany. The ornamentation resembles Lule-Sámi drums our group concluded enthusiastically. Little information is available for the time being but hopefully more will follow.

Curator Juliane Ziegler at Dresden State Art Collections (SKN) with the drum that came to Leipzig from Schwerin Castle in the 1970s. The drum is not described by Manker (1938). From the left Lisa Vangen, Center of northern peoples, Sissel Ann Mikkelsen, Árran Lule Sámi Center and Elle Bals, Kautokeino Municipality Museum/RiddoDuoattarMuseat. Photo: C. Baglo.
«Museum fatigue – befalls us all”. Sissel Ann Mikkelsen and Lisa Dunfjeld-Aagård in Museum für Völkerkunde’s depository. Photo: C. Baglo.

Guided tour and reception in Berlin

After eventful days in Freiburg, Mannheim, and Dresden our last factfinding trip ended with a guided tour of the project space “Áimmuin. Re-Connecting Sámi Heritage” (15.08.2024-30.11.2025) at Museum Europäischer Kulturen (MEK) in Berlin.[i] The space currently houses most of MEKs Sámi collection of more than a thousand objects. Áimmuin, which in North Sámi means preserved, in a safe space, within reach, near, still in the air, and not forgetting, is a space created for the project “The Sámi Collection at Museum Europäischer Kulturen – A Multiperspective Approach of Provenance Research” (2022-2025) funded by the German Lost Art Foundation.[ii] Along with the Sámi museums Ájtte in Sweden and Siida in Finland, Dávvirat Duiskkas is MEK’s collaboration partner on the Norwegian side of the Sámi area. In addition to most of the Sámi collection, Áimmuin houses new works made by Sámi duojarát (artisans) inspired by the old objects in MEK’s collection, works of provenance research, and experiments with new ways of re-appropriating cultural heritage.

Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Tietmeyer (to the right) and director at Museum Europäischer Kulturen in Dahlem in Berlin gives the group an introduction to “Áimmuin” and MEK’s provenance research project. Photo: C. Baglo.
The project room and exhibition “Áimmuin. Re-connecting Sámi heritage”. Ánne Mággá Wigelius, museum leader at Tana Museum and Thomas Ole Andersen, museum leader at Várdobáiki Sámi Museum examine some of the work duojár (artisan) Ellen Berit Dalbakk has done in MEK’s project. Andersen and Dalbakk are from the same Torne Sámi area. Photo: C. Baglo.
Lisa Dunfjeld-Aagård and Sissel Ann Mikkelsen documenting horn spoons on display in Áimmuin. Photo: J. Jernsletten.
Hanna-Maaria Kiprianoff from Ä´vv Saa´mi Mu´zei/ Ä’vv Skolt Sámi Museum in Neiden in Norway in front of the two Šaamšiǩ (Skolt Sámi woman’s hat) made by the Skolt Sámi duojar and educational material designer Heini Wesslin in the MEK project. Kiprianoff would perform Skolt Sámi leu’dd at the reception at the Norwegian residence later that night and had made her own Šaamšiǩ for the occasion. It was the first time in her life she wore her own Skolt Sámi woman’s hat. Photo: C. Baglo.

After the guided tour at Museum Europäischer Kulturen the whole group headed out to the Norwegian embassy’s residence in Grünewald. The embassy had kindly suggested to host a reception to celebrate the completion of the first phase of Dávvirat Duiskkas. Colleagues from all the German museums Dávvirat Duiskkas has visited on its factfinding trips where invited. In addition to the Sámi museums in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, colleagues from some of the Norwegian museums with Sámi collections were invited. Quite a few of these were actually able to come. The Norwegian ambassador to Germany, Laila Stenseng, and Dávvirat Duiskkas’ steering group leader, Birgitta Fossum, welcomed the guests. The Norwegian Minister of Culture and Equality, Lubna Jaffery, and the president of the Sámi Parliament of Norway, Silje Karine Muotka, gave video speeches. All emphasized the importance of German Sámi museum collaboration.

From the reception at the Norwegian residence in Berlin. Anne May Olli at RiddoDuoattarMuseat and Harrieth Aira at Árran Lule Sámi Center listens to the welcome speeches by Dávvirat Duiskkas’ steering group leader, Birgitta Fossum (in blue) and ambassador to Germany, Laila Stenseng (in black). Photo: C. Baglo.
Video speeches by the president of the Sámi Parliament of Norway, Silje Karine Muotka (above, in ládjogahpir/hornhat) and the Norwegian Minister of Culture and Equality, Lubna Jaffery (below). Photo: C. Baglo.
See caption above.
Conversations on Sámi collections. Looking towards the camera: Laila Stenseng, Norwegian ambassador to Germany (black suit), Jorunn Jernsletten, Dávvirat Duiskkas/Tana and Varanger Museum Siida, and Hana Lukesova, Bergen University Museum. Ida Johanne Preus Efskin from the Norwegian embassy to the left of her. Lara Michalk, University of Cologne to the left in the back. Photo: C. Baglo.

After the speeches Hanna-Maaria Kiprianoff from Ä’vv Skolt Sámi Museum performed Skolt Sámi leu’dd. Then followed a delicious dinner and pleasant conversation before the guests were sent into the December night with a jar of the embassy’s self-produced honey in hand. I believe we all felt that a solid base has been built for Dávvirat Duiskkas’ final phase (2025-2026). Our focus has already shifted from systematic visits to German museums to the sharing and development of findings with Sámi source communities. Each of the six Sámi museums in Norway will host, or has already hosted,[i] workshops with public events where colleagues from Finland, Sweden, Germany, and Norway participate. In addition, a report (end of 2025), a conference (March 2026) and an anthology will follow (2026). Stay tuned!

Merry colleagues at the embassy’s reception. From the left; Kai Rune Hætta, Sissel Ann Mikkelsen, Lisa Vangen, Thomas Ole Andersen, Anne May Olli, Elle Bals? Birgitta Fossum, Lisa Dunfjeld-Aagård. Photo: C. Baglo.
A solid base has been built for Dávvirat Duiskkas’ final phase (2025-2026). Birgit Scheps-Bretschneider from Grassi Museum in Leipzig/Dresden State Art Collections and Dávvirat Duiskkas’ steering group leader, Birgitta Fossum from Saemien Sijte South Sámi Museum. Photo: C. Baglo.

Jïjnjh heelsegh

Cathrine Baglo

[i] https://museumsforbundet.no/nyheter/first-workshop-with-public-event-at-saemien-sijte/

[i] https://www.smb.museum/en/exhibitions/detail/aimmuin/.

[ii] https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/museum-europaeischer-kulturen/collections-research/research/sami-collection-at-mek/

[i] Manker 1938, 781-783 (drum nr. 63).

[ii] Gaben and die residenz, 16.

[iii] Manker 1938, 781.

 

[i] Gaben and die residenz. Etnographische Kostbarkeiten aus den Kurfürstlich-Königlichen Sammlungen Dresdens. Ausstellung des Museums für Völkerkunde Dresden. Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen. 2024, 16-17. See also Baglo, C. 2024. Julevsáme kultuvrraárbbe dujsk museajn/Lulesamisk kulturarv i tyske museer. Bårjås, 38-51

[ii] Gaben and die residenz, 16.

[iii] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Scheffer

[i] Copy of VMDresden Sámi suchergebnisreport umfassend mit bild (Unpublished manuscript). Among the objects are two plaster face masks of an unknown individual “Gesichtsmaske eines unbekannten Sami”, A 03104 and A 03105.

[ii] Martin, P. 2024. «In Vorbereitung».

[iii] https://museumsforbundet.no/nyheter/den-tyske-samleren-julius-konietzko/

[i] Petra Martin, SKD, «In Vorbereitung für Stannaki-Forum, Okt. 2024» (Unpublished manuscript).

[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Jacobi. Accessed March 2025.

[iii] Martin, P. «In Vorbereitung für Stannaki-Forum, Okt. 2024. Sámi collection at the Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden» (Unpublished manuscript SKD).

[i] https://voelkerkunde-dresden.skd.museum/en/about-us/. Accessed March 2025.

[ii] https://voelkerkunde-dresden.skd.museum/en/about-us/. Accessed March 2025.

[iii] The palace was built in 1715 to house the porcelain collection of the Saxon elector Augustus II the Strong https://voelkerkunde-dresden.skd.museum/en/about-us/;https://porzellansammlung.skd.museum/en/about-us/

[i] https://digitaltmuseum.no/021015528080/same-mann-pa-fjellvandring-antatt-per-thuri-pehr-thuuri-i-hakvikdalen-stav

[ii] Pers. Comm. Dr. Sarah-Nelly Friedland. Reiss-Engelhorn Museen, Mannheim. March 2025.

[iii] https://nuohtti.com/Content/material-survey-results?lng=nor. All of Wustmann’s original documents including these letters are kept in the Hauptstaatsarchiv in Dresden.

[iv] https://uit.no/tmu/art?p_document_id=613691 Wustmann’s original recordings are in Germany but the Arctic University Museum in Tromsø has permission to publish clips from the collection.

[i] https://www.rem-mannheim.de/en/the-reiss-engelhorn-museen/

[ii] Pers. Comm. Dr. Sarah Nelly Friedland, Director Archaeology and World Cultures.

[iii] The drum and the hammer are described in the article “Die Trommel der Saami als Abbild von Weltbild und ritueller Praxis im Wandel”. Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter. Sonderveröffentlichung (Kasten, E. Year unknown, 189-193.

[iv]“Sami Objecte”. Unpublished inventory list. Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen – Museum Weltkulturen.

[v] Pers. Comm. Chiara Montebello, student at the master’s program in Cultural Heritage and Cultural Property Protection at Heidelberg University.

[i] “Note: Gürtel Jacob Original”. Unpublished file. Museum Natur und Mensch.

[ii] Pers. Comm. Max Hollerith and Nicole Landmann-Burghart. Museum Natur und Mensch. March 2025.

[iii] The women are mentioned in relation to III/1615 (23) and III/1615 (14) respectively. Note: Gürtel Jacob Original. Unpublished file. Museum Natur und Mensch.

[iv] Detaljert personsøk – Digitalarkivet

[i] The University of Freiburg (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), founded in 1457, is one of Germany’s oldest universities.

[ii] Als Freiburg die Welt Entdeckte. 100 Jahre Museum für Völkerkunde. Städtische Museen Freiburg. 1995, 20-21.

[iii] Ethnologische Sammlung | Freiburg Museen

[iv] Pers. Comm. M. Hollerith, Museum Natur und Mensch.

[v] Freiburg_Sámi Objects_onsite. Unpublished file. Museum Natur und Mensch.

[vi] https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfzS20269.html

[vii] Freiburg_Sámi Objects_Deaccessed. Unpublished file. Museum Natur und Mensch.

[viii] According to the inventory book (pre-1924) there are in total nine horn spoons, III/1283-1291, that are either from Tromsø Museum, the university collection, or the provenance is listed as unknown. Among the purchase mentioned from Tromsø Museum on 31.01. 1903 are two horn spoons. Pers. Comm. Max Hollerith, March 2025.

[ix] Pers. Comm. Max Hollerith. Museum Natur und Mensch. March 2025. https://onlinesammlung.freiburg.de/en/person/Speyer%20I%2C%20Arthur%20Karl%20Hans%20Friedrich%20August/3CE3165EE9C849F38C50D42D70CBE8DB