My Weekly Powerup | #club100 | Gimle gård – A beautiful mansion where time has stood still (Kristiansand, Norway) | #steemexclusive / 25 photos

Some weeks ago I told you about the botanical garden and Gimle Gård. That was in the end of May, when everything was green. Gimle Gård is located next to the garden and I did tell you a little about this mansion, but it was not open in May. During June and July it is open for guided tours, so I went back in the beginning of July. This time I will focos on the interiour of the mansion. The tour lasted one hour and the guide startet the tour by telling us the stories of the people who once lived in this beautiful mansion. The last person was Otilie Arnfeldt Omdal, also called Titti, who died in 1982. She never married and had no children. She bequeathed therefore her mansion to Kristiansand municipality, but it had conditions. That was to maintain and preserve the place. The municipality did just that by turning it into a museum.

A PLACE WHERE TIME HAS STOOD STILL
Everything is just as it was when Titti died. Not only her rooms. There are visible traces of the people that worked here. During WWII when Norway was occupied by the Germany, the German military took over the second floor, as well as the basement. That's where they kept prisoners.

The gentlemens room

The ladies room

The tour started on the second floor in a room that used to function as a ballroom. But the room also has a large collection of paintings, that the owners had bought in different places in Europe. Then we mooved along the corridor and had a look into different small rooms. After a consuming the dinner, the men wood withdraw to «the gentlemens room» to enjoy a cigar and talk politics. In the next room the ladies would sit, sipping tea and doing embroidering.

THE FARM BELONGED TO THE SAME FAMILY FOR FIVE GENERATIONS
The manor house was built in the period 1797-1807. This was during a period many of the wealthy people in town built themselves a country residence. They wanted a place outside town to get away form the noice in the city and to get fresh air. These country houses were also a place where they invited important people to dinner parties. The rich merchant who built the house was named Bernt Holm. The fifth generation to live here were Titti who died in 1982.

The mirror that makes me see the room behind me

At the end of the second floor there is yet another huge ballroom. This is where the dancing took place. The guide told us, that in the early days of the mansion, those who didn't dance, were not allowed to look at those who did dance. They had to turn their back to the dance floor. But a clever little detail, made it possible for them to look. They could look into these little mirrors that acted as curtain holders. The guide told us that the last ball she arranged, was in 1976.

TITTI'S ROOMS ON THE GROUND FLOOR
The tour continued the tour to the rooms on the first floor. This is where we see some of the rooms that was used by Titti. Like her office and the livingroom. The house is furnished with fine furniture and everything else needed to held dinner parties and intertain the wealthy friends who came to visit.

Titti's office

This is also where the kitchen is. She was a person that was very concerned of animal wellbeing. Even though Gimle Gård started out as a recreational country house, some of the owners desided to start with agriculture. The had horses, pigs, chickens etc.

The large portrait is Titti as an elderly woman

FINELLY, WE END UP IN THE BASEBENT
As we go to the basement, we pass through a corridor filled with harnesses used for the horses, the food cellar and the room with equipment for making wine. The farm actually produced rhubarb wine.

Bottles for the wine

Titti as a young woman

Serving food for prisoners of war

Look at the door. It has a small hatch at the very bottom, with German text on it. During the war, when the Germans kept the prisoners of war in the basement. They were served their food through the hatch.

It was also in the basement that the very first kitchen was placed, in addition to the rooms used for laundry, repairing clothes etc. The tour ended here in the basement and we were led out through a door and out into the courtyard.

It was nice to see how well preserved the house and its interiors are. I am glad I finally manged to see the house on the inside and hear the story of the people who once lived here.

Previous post from the botanical garden and Gimle Gård:
My Weekly Powerup | #club100 | The botanical garden in Kristiansand, Norway | #steemexclusive / 15 photos

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My Weekly Powerup | #club100 | An art exhibition that is not like any other, Kristiansand (Norway) | #steemexclusive / 8 photos

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Kristiansand, Norway

All the photoes are mine, Ulla Jensen (flickr, Instagram and facebook)

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