Images – Bronzes – Stories
The exhibition at Vitlycke Museum takes you on a journey through time to the Bronze Age of the World Heritage Site at Tanum. You will meet some of the fictional residents of Tanum from that age, Akaz, Nenna, Alawin, Glicc and Glär – people recreated from archaeological finds from graves and settlements.
In the story about these fictional people and their adventures you will gain insight into the everyday life of Bronze Age Tanum, and you can follow exciting journeys out into Europe in pursuit of the golden bronze.
The story is based on facts and knowledge but the course of events is fiction. Burned bones found in a Bronze Age grave at Ridareberget in Tanum have given rise to the ancestral Akaz, who learns the secrets of casting bronze on his expeditions to the European continent. His descendants Alawin and Nenna are buried in the same place in Tanum and have been given an important role in the execution of the great Vitlycke carving. In the story it is their wedding that is depicted on the rock and known today as “the Bridal Couple”.
Knowledge of the Bronze Age
The facts on which the story of Akaz and his descendants is based are also included in the exhibition. In the factual section, information about life in Tanum in the Bronze Age is combined with perspectives on Scandinavia and the world beyond. We want to show the nature of the landscape, the society, daily life and festivities, what the people of Tanum believed and knew. Snapshots from around Europe give a picture of what was happening in other parts of the world at the time when the images were being carved into the flat rocks of Bohuslän.
Copy of a bronze sword found in the sea outside Ellös on Orust. What happened in Europe while the rock carvings were made i Tanum? Read the signs to find out.
Images on the rock
The rock carvings are a very important part of the exhibition. What are the various interpretations of the images we find on the panels in the World Heritage Area? Who carved them? How were they made and why? The meaning of the images is still in many cases a riddle and the suggested interpretations are therefore numerous. There are many questions and even more answers. Other questions are easier to answer: why are the images weathering away and what can we do about it? How old are they and how can we know that?
Images, Bronzes and Stories tries to answer the questions our visitors have asked over the years. A visit to Vitlycke Museum gives many answers, and the whole story where fiction and fact are brought together gives a unique holistic impression. The exhibition is an experience for the whole family – there is a lot of interesting knowledge to be found in various spaces – in peepholes and boxes. They give you an insight into what our lives may have in common, but perhaps also the difference between us, between us who live now and those who lived three thousand years ago.Exhibition details
The exhibition is the result of collaboration between Cultural Administration Region Västra Götaland/Vitlycke Museum, the Department of Historical Studies at Gothenburg University and the Foundation for the Documentation of Bohus County Petroglyphs.
Facts adaptation: Christina Toreld and Hans Lundenmark
Storytelling: Aleka Karageorgopoulos
Illustrator: Fredrik Dimrå
Reconstructions: Neil Burridge and Peter Petersson
Design & Layout: Carroco AB
Co-financiers: Tordenstiftelsen, In Site – European Union Interreg
