Photos: New mural depicts medieval poisoning scene

If you visit ólavsøka today, you are likely to notice a striking new decoration at Finsen, formely one of Tórshavn’s main schools but now used as a student hall of residence.

The new mural, painted by multi-artist Heiðrikkur á Heygum, depicts a scene from medieval ballad ‘Ólavur Riddararós og álvarmoy’ (‘Ólavur knight-rose and the elf-maiden’.

Specifically, the scene is described in stanza 23 of the ballad: “Hon skonkti honum í drykkjuhorn, har fór í tað eiturkorn” (“She poured into his drinking horn, spiked the drink with poison corn”).

Heiðrikur á Heygum, Ólavur Riddararós

Heiðrikur á Heygum, Ólavur Riddararós

Frítekst tagging: 

Heiðrikur á Heygum

Heiðrikur á Heygum, Ólavur Riddararós

Frítekst tagging: 

Heiðrik á Heygum

Heiðrikur á Heygum

Heiðrikur á Heygum, Ólavur Riddararós

Heiðrikur á Heygum, Ólavur Riddararós

Heiðrikur á Heygum, Ólavur Riddararós

It’s difficult to find a traditional chant version of this ballad online, but you can listen to a version by Havnarkórið (Tórshavn’s choir) here, another by Valravn here and a slightly heavier one by metal band Týr here.

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

More Faroese News in English.