Three hundred years ago, in 1723, the Norwegian missionary
Thomas von Westen took a sacred Sámi drum belonging to Bendix Andersen and Jon
Torchelsen. Von Westen and this drum, along with all the other drums he collected
by coercion and force from Sámi communities around and north of Trondheim, is
the subject of one of the chapters in my recent book, From Lapland to Sápmi.
Unlike many of von Westen’s consficated drums, which burned in the great
Copenhagen fire of 1728, this drum, the Freavnantjahke gievrie, or Drum from
Frøyning Mountain, went from the Royal Kunstkammer to a castle in Germany, and
from there eventually to the Meiningen Museum. The Iron Curtain kept its
whereabouts mysterious until the 1990s, when staff members at the National
Museum of Denmark decided to try to track it down. It was exhibited on loan in
Trondheim in 2017.
In 2021, Saemien Sijte, the South Sámi museum and cultural
center in Snåsa, two hours north of Trondheim, opened negotiations with the Meiningen
Museum for the permanent repatriation of the drum. On June 21, 2023 Meiningen
Museum decided at its board meeting to return the Freaynantjahke gievrie to Saemien
Sijte. It’s the first German museum to return a drum but may not be the last. Discussions
between the Sámi Parliament and other museums in Berlin and Dresden, among
other cities, have opened as to the possibility of more repatriations.Birgitta Fossum, museum director at Saemien Sijte, wrote in
a
press
release:
"Drums have been and are important in Sami society.
They were sacred and important guides in life, and they were often seen by
missionaries as tools of the devil. Thomas von Westen wanted to collect drums
and use the knowledge he gained to Christianize the Sami by demonizing the
religion. Most of the drums preserved today were collected by missionaries in
the 17th and 18th centuries and later by museums. This is a painful history,
and the fact that we are now finally getting the drums back is a step towards
coming to terms with history. This is our cultural heritage that we can now finally
manage ourselves."
The Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the
Meiningen-Eisenach Cultural Foundation, State Secretary for Culture Tina Beer,
says,
"I am very happy about the outcome of the talks and
thank all those involved as well as the Norwegian partners for their pragmatic
and constructive approach. A ritual object that is important for the cultural
identity of the long-persecuted Sámi people is now returning exactly 300 years
after it was confiscated. It is good and important that even long-ago processes
of transferring cultural property are brought to meaningful solutions. This
return is an act of respect and recognition towards the northern Norwegian
communities and their cultural identity. We are committed to acknowledging past
injustices and ushering in a new era of intercultural dialogue and
cooperation."
