Aarhus, Denmark: Museums

On Sunday, I went to two museums: The Occupation Museum and The Women's Museum. I thought they were both very interesting. Mahalia and I also went to a free piano concert in between. So even though Sunday was our last day there, I thought it was very productive.

The Occupation Museum is about the years that Denmark spent under German rule during World War II. There were many displays and I was given an English guide to them, which I appreciated very much. It starts out with general things about the war such as rationing, how the war in general affected life in Denmark, and how Denmark's very small army was no match for the Germans so they had to surrender. The displays were in chronological order so it went on to talk about the invasion of Finland by the Russians and how that was one of the causes of the resistance movement. Then there were displays of Denmark pride and how the people rallied behind Christian X, Denmark's King during the war. One of the most interesting displays was a huge map of Aarhus and all the spots where resistance workers did things to hinder the Nazis like burning of buildings and bombing of rail tracks. There was also a big map of Denmark showing where British forces dropped weapons and agents. So everything that happened in Denmark during the war was relatively small but it's a small country with not that many people so the fact that all these things happened was really impressive. I thnk the museum has seen better days. The 4 other visitors in the museum were all British. And two museum workers said they're all volunteers and that in the past, there would be lots of people in the summer. Anyway, I thought the exhibits were really interesting. I really think that history in America is taught from a very American point of view. Even world history. And there's so much more out there that it's a shame not to know.

I also went to the Women's Museum, one of the very few museums talking about women's lives in the world. This one focuses on Denmark and mostly on Aarhus. One of the rooms had dresses and were labeled with the year that they were worn/in fashion.

This is the gown worn by the first woman to get a master's degree in seismology. She wrote a paper later about the center of the earth being liquid, which shocked many scientists at the time.

One of the rooms had a history of women's rights reforms and movements in Denmark. I bought a booklet with all the information. Wish I had read the booklet before I went to see the exhibit. Anyway, there was another room that talks about the lives of boys and girls in the 1800s and 1900s in Denmark, mostly in Aarhus. It is designed for kids to run around and explore, which I found very cool. They have cards with a profile of a boy or girl. In the front they would tell you his/her name, date of birth, siblings, occcupation of parents, and hometown. Then on the back, there would be facts about the child such as "Helped with family farm", "went to boarding school", "made his/her own toys", etc. And next to these facts would be numbers. The number are color coded by: Family, Play, Education, Clothes etc. And then each room would be one of these categories. You go in and find the thing that belongs to the child on your card. For example, in the Clothes room, there would be lots of clothes hanging around, each with a number. I think kids would really enjoy this and can spend hours running around finding out about "their" person.