- Tíðindi, mentan og ítróttur
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”).
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.