Photo. The famous Kon-Tiki raft in the
Kon-Tiki museum in Oslo, Norway.
The Kon-Tiki Museum is a private
foundation, which houses a range of boats and artefacts from Thor Heyerdahl´s expeditions. Here you
can see the original Kon-Tiki raft (1947) with a 30 foot whale
shark underneath, statues and a secret family cave from Easter Island (1956),
the papyrus boat Ra II (1970), and an exciting collection of
archaeological finds from Easter Island, East Polynesia, Galapagos
and Peru.
This museum is
located in Oslo, the capital in
Norway. It's
one of the most popular tourist's attractions in
Norway. The
full name of museum is The Kon-Tiki Museum Institute for Pacific Archaeology and
Cultural History.
It houses
original vessels and objects from Thor Heyerdahl's world famous expeditions: The
Kon-Tiki raft, the papyrus boat Ra II, Easter
Island statues and a model of
Tigris.
Photos.
The papyrus boat Ra II and a model of
Tigris (displayed in the Kon-Tiki
Museum).
On the
28th of April 1947 he, and his five crewmembers, set out from Callao in Peru on
the Kon-Tiki balsa raft built in a traditional style. They drifted 4300 miles
during 101 days and ended up on Raroia in the Tuamotus archipelago.
The voyage was a success and Heyerdahls book about the voyage became a
bestseller and translated to at least 70 languages it has sold in millions of
copies all around the world.
Heyerdahls film about the Kon-Tiki voyage was awarded an Oscar for best
documentary in 1951.
|
Photo. Face of the Kon-Tiki god in Peru - on the sail of the Kon-Tiki
raft.
The Kon-Tiki
Expedition:
The
balsa wood raft Kon-Tiki was built as a copy of a prehistoric South
American vessel.
A crew of six men sailed the raft from
Callao in
Peru
the 28th
of April 1947 and landed on the
island of
Raroia in
Polynesia after 101 days. |
 |
Thor Heyerdahl:
Also
called Sir Kon-Tiki and the Citizen of the World. He passed away quietly in his
home in Italy the 18
of April 2002, at an age of 87. As one of the most famous Norwegians ever, he
has accomplished many different things in his life, but his name will always be
closely connected to the Kon-Tiki voyage and the archaeological investigations
on Easter Island (Rapa Nui) and East
Polynesia.
| Photo. Copy of a statue from the Easter
Island (Rapa Nui) accompanied by an eager tourist, Liz, from USA. |
 |
|
Photo. An Easter
Island statue.How could statues like this one
walk?
Kon-Tiki Museum - Institute
for Pacific Archaeology and Cultural History research work:
One of the research projects on the Easter
Island, which has been carried out, is the Statue Experiement.
Another research project has been carried out in a
area called The La Pérouse, which houses several large ceremonial
structures (ahu), areas with rock carvings, and other prehistoric
sites. |
 |
Read more on the
Kon-Tiki
Museum
website about these and other research projects:
-
Tucume,
Peru
-
Christmas Island
-
The
Maldives
-
Pulemelei,
Samoa
-
The
Oceania
Project
In addition the museum also has
a film room and activities for children.
Direction: take Bus no. 30 from Oslo centre to Bygdøy
in the winter. In the summer it`s also possible to take the ferry from
the Oslo
City
Hall.
For more
information about the museum click on the link: www.kon-tiki.no
Stein Morten Lund, 1 April 2005
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