Cultural Heritage

Fredheim - cultural center of Ingeborg Refling Hagen

Situated along Gudbrandsdalsleden
Gunnar Hellum
Fredheim was the home of the Norwegian author and teacher Ingeborg Refling Hagen (1895-1989). Pilgrims are welcome to visit the house of Ingeborg.

Adresse

Fredheim,
2337 Tangen

Web

http://www.kulturhusfredheim.no/

Distance

At the path

Ingeborg Refling Hagen's basic philosophy and thinking is a strange blend of old Christian ideas and socialist thinking. Hagen's philosophical outlook can most easily be spotted in her poem Guds Tuntre (The Courtyard Tree of God). Here, she describes the Norse World Tree Yggdrasil as planted by God, and takes comfort in the mythic explanation when she gets "dizzy from hurrying thoughts". She finds a quiet point, Tangen, and decides to work from there. Here, she finds friends and family, but acknowledges that "life comes from the same root". Yggdrasil is in fact the revolving earth, and all the world, all humanity, are inside its branches. She also founded an association for the friends of poetry called “suttungene” (In Norse mythology, suttung was a jötunn, a son of Gilling, who (along with Suttungr's mother) had been murdered by Fjalar and Galar). They are especially focused on bringing children and youth into the world of poetry.

Today her home is a museum and a culture centre honoring her life and her work.