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1st. September 2009 |
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From crested pelicans to mammoths metres high – Denmark has not always been the Ugly Duckling’s country. We have had tundra with temperatures like Greenland, and dense primal forest in a Riviera climate. At the National Museum we are making our contribution to the climate debate with knowledge of how and why the Danish climate and landscape have changed, from the freezing Ice Age through warm dark primal forest until today - with a peek into the future. See among other things a polar bear, a tree stump from the bottom of the Great Belt, a foot from a bog body and thousand-year-old ice in the exhibition “CLIMATE. Denmark from Glaciers to Global Warming”, which opens on 31st October 2009.
What does climate change mean for me?
The climate is now on everyone’s lips in earnest – and for good reasons. In Denmark heavy rain means that low-lying urban areas are flooded more often than before. On the other hand maize is growing better in the farmers’ fields! The exhibition CLIMATE turns the focus on the radical climatic changes that have influenced Denmark and formed our culture over the past many thousand years, but also shows how we have increasingly formed nature around us, and with the man-made greenhouse effect now also the climate. The recurring question in the exhibition is: What has been caused by man, and what is natural?
A journey through the changing climate of Denmark
Follow the climate, plant life and animal life, the development of the landscape and man, and see how the forces of the climate have affected Denmark and the Danes over the past 25,000 years. One of the most important sources of knowledge about the climate of the future is what we know about the climate of the past. Today we have a detailed picture of the climatic changes from sediments in lakes and bogs, the bottom of the sea and the ice in Greenland. These are some of the places where we can find answers to questions like why animal species like the mammoth and the giant deer became extinct; see how much the water level of the seas has risen since the Ice Age; and understand how the forest, wind and weather of the ‘Little Ice Age’ affected us – in 1658 for example the Swedes marched across the ice to wage war on Denmark, which led to the loss of Scania, Halland and Blekinge. And finally we can take a look into the future – and wonder what can happen.
A climate menu with a sense of history
Organic vegetables, biodynamic food and fish from local waters. The National Museum’s Climate+ restaurant makes every effort to cut down on transport in the spirit of climatic responsibility. The quality raw materials come from local enthusiasts; so the Serrano ham from Spain has been replaced by a smoked ham from Munk the butcher in Skagen. Come and taste the climate-friendly menu with among other things pea juice, zander fried in its skin, chanterelles and Nordic vervain.
Further information:
Expert: Morten Fischer Mortensen, morten.fischer.mortensen@natmus.dk, +45 33473185 or Charlie Christensen, charlie.christensen@natmus.dk, +45 3347 3189
Press contact Anni Mogensen, anni.mogensen@natmus.dk, +45 3347 3007
Nationalmuseet
Ny Vestergade 10
1471 Copenhagen K
Tuesday-Sunday 10.00-17.00
Admission free
www.natmus.dk
Climate research at the National Museum
14,100 years ago a band of hunters threw some bones and reindeer antlers into a small lake in South Jutland. What they did not know was that this would later be of great importance for our knowledge of the climate! The National Museum has been granted DKr 4m by the Research Council for Culture and Communication for a project with the goal of reconstructing the climate, landscapes and movements of mankind in the Late Glacial period, 15,000-11.700 BC, a period typified by great climatic changes. It is hoped that by mapping the climatic changes of the past the project will tell us more about the effects of future climate change.
This project is part of the National Museum’s new focus area “Northern Worlds”, spanning a wide range of individual projects in natural and cultural history. The focus area has recently received a large grant from the Augustinus Foundation, and with all its subsidies “Northern Worlds” now has a budget of DKr 55m.
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