BBC World Histories, Nuuk

JOURNEYS Global City Nuuk Greenland ankles. Behind the statue is Nuuk’s red In colder months, left vulnerable when Denmark fell to wooden cathedral, Annaassisitta Oqa- the Nazis in 1940, so the United States luffia (Church of Our Saviour), built icebergs drift across built air and sea bases, weather and radio in 1849; in 1994 Kristian Mørk was stations across the island. ordained here – the first serving bishop the bay; you might Near Nuuk’s historic centre is the of Greenland for 616 years, since the see a whale’s fluke site of Blok P, a troubling reminder of Rainbow death of the last medieval Norse bishop, Greenland’s 20th-century social history. Álfr, in 1378. slapping the sea Once housing 1% of its population, the Below the church stands a partly sub- result of a centralising policy imposed capital of merged sculpture of Sedna, Inuit mother by Copenhagen, this vast concrete block of the sea, a walrus at her back and a was cramped and impractical for its polar bear by her side, recalling a much north of the Arctic Circle, still clothed in Inuit residents, who needed space to gut Greenland older set of beliefs. Cross the bridge by seal and reindeer skins, their bodies were their catches and store hunting equip- Egede’s house to Greenland’s National preserved by ice for over 500 years. ment. Symbolically demolished after Museum, housing an extensive collection Look for a black building with ‘C11’ Greenland achieved autonomy in 2009, of medieval Norse artefacts and – more painted in yellow on the roof, a reminder the space where it stood is now a social haunting still – four ‘ice mummies’, of the country’s strategic importance hub, with a new school is planned for the Colourful wooden houses in Old Nuuk look out over including a six-month-old baby. Discov- during the Second World War, when site. In a city often defined by its colonial the icy mouth of the Nuup ered in stone-covered graves 500 miles that code guided pilots. Greenland was past, Nuuk now looks to its future. Kangerlua fjord system, settled by Norse pioneers in the 11th century NUUK IN EIGHT SITES Hans Egede’s house Eleanor Rosamund he world’s largest island the Lord’s Prayer was translated into The country’s oldest house was built in spans well over 800,000 Greenlandic, with the immortal line 1728 for the ‘Apostle of Greenland’ Barraclough explores T square miles – yet its capi- “give us this day our daily seal meat.”) Sedna tal, Nuuk, has a population Egede’s first base was on Kangeq Sculpture of the Inuit sea goddess to the city once known of fewer than 18,000 people. It is hugely Island, where the Inuit fished and hunt- whom hunters prayed for a good catch picturesque: a cluster of rainbow-hued ed seal. This was the birthplace of Aron as Godthåb, settled by Greenland National Museum wooden houses clinging to rocky prom- of Kangeq, a 19th-century Inuit hunter, and Archives Inuit hunters, Norse ontory at the mouth of a vast fjord – and painter and oral historian known for his Important museum housing Inuit ice its history is equally colourful. woodcuts of Inuit culture and folk tales. mummies and Viking-Age remains exiles and missionaries The area was settled by Paleo-Eskimo The fishing hub on Kangeq was finally Annaassisitta Oqaluffia cultures as far back as 2200 BC. Viking- abandoned in the 1970s after centuries – Greenland’s first cathedral since the Age pioneers, led by the murderous even millennia – of human occupation, Middle Ages was built in 1849; crowds ex-outlaw Erik the Red, arrived around its livelihood devastated by commercial gather here to celebrate National Day AD 1000. In Nuup Kangerlua, the 100- fishing and its remaining inhabitants on 21 June, the longest day of the year mile-long fjord system running inland rehoused by the Danish government in Kangeq Island from Nuuk, you can still find ruined apartment blocks in the capital. Location of Hans Egede’s original mission, stone foundations of farmsteads dotting In 1728 the colony relocated 11 miles birthplace of Inuit painter and oral the steep mountain slopes, relics of the north-east to the mainland; initially historian Aron of Kangeq, and site of a small community known as the Western named Godthåb (Good Hope), in 1979 ghostly abandoned Inuit fishing village Settlement founded by Erik’s party. it became Nuuk. To explore its origins as Moravian Brethren Mission House By around 1450 those early Norse a colonial missionary outpost, roam the Built using timber shipped from the settlements had failed but, since contact colourful wooden houses of Old Nuuk Netherlands, the mission house was with Europe had long been lost, the clustered around the harbour. In colder established in 1747 Eleanor Rosamund Scandinavians didn’t know the colony months, icebergs drift across the bay, ‘C11’ building Barraclough is asso- had died out. In 1721, Dano-Norwegian and you might see a whale’s fluke slap- Reminder of Greenland’s strategic ciate professor of history missionary Hans Egede set off to bring ping the sea. Visit Hans Egede’s house, importance during the Second World War at Durham University, Lutheranism to Greenland. Finding no with its slatted red roof, and reindeer Nuup Kangerlua remains and author of Beyond trace of Nordic brethren, Egede directed antlers mounted on mustard-yellow Ruined farmstead foundations along the the Northlands: Viking his missionary zeal towards the indige- walls; atop a nearby outcrop you’ll find 100-mile-long fjord system reveal where Voyages and the Old Norse nous Inuit from whom modern Green- a statue of Egede, staff in hand, Luther- hundreds of medieval Norse settlers lived before the colony died out around 1450 Sagas (OUP, 2016) landers are descended. (During this time an robes buttoned tightly from neck to ALAMY 92 ILLUSTRATION BY TONWEN JONES 93.

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