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Witches' Memorial, Steilneset, Vardø. 2011

The Witches' Memorial at Steilneset in the very north of Norway, a collaboration between architect Peter Zumthor and artist Louise Bourgeois, was completed in 2011.

Photographer Ellen Ane Eggen created a number of panoramic images that shows the memorial in its striking context.

By Ellen Ane Eggen
Published 01 Sep, 2011
 
Witches' Memorial, Steilneset, Vardø, by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois. 2011. The fjord at Steilneset. Photo: Ellen Ane Eggen

Witches' Memorial, Steilneset, Vardø, by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois. 2011. The fjord at Steilneset. Photo: Ellen Ane Eggen

Witches' Memorial, Steilneset, Vardø, by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois. 2011. The fjord at Steilneset. Photo: Ellen Ane Eggen

Witches' Memorial, Steilneset, Vardø, by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois. 2011. The fjord at Steilneset. Photo: Ellen Ane Eggen

Witches' Memorial, Steilneset, Vardø, by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois. 2011. Photo: Ellen Ane Eggen

Witches' Memorial, Steilneset, Vardø, by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois. 2011. Photo: Ellen Ane Eggen

Witches' Memorial, Steilneset, Vardø, by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois. 2011. Photo: Ellen Ane Eggen

Witches' Memorial, Steilneset, Vardø, by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois. 2011. Photo: Ellen Ane Eggen

Witches' Memorial, Steilneset, Vardø, by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois. From the long space with one window for each of the 91 victims. 2011. Photo: Ellen Ane Eggen

Witches' Memorial, Steilneset, Vardø, by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois. 2011. The glass building designed by Zumthor for Bourgeois' installation. Photo: Ellen Ane Eggen

Witches' Memorial, Steilneset, Vardø, by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois. The installation by Louise Bourgeois. 2011. Photo: Ellen Ane Eggen

Witches' Memorial, Steilneset, Vardø, by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois. The installation by Louise Bourgeois. 2011. Photo: Ellen Ane Eggen

Architect: Peter Zumthor. Artist: Louise Bourgeois

During the period 1600-1692, 91 people were convicted of witchcraft in Finnmark and burned to death at the stake, most of them here in Vardø. In this vast and barren landscape, Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois collaborated on the design of a monument commemorating the persecution and murder of these 91 people. On the cold plains of Finnmark, where the presence of people is still felt most strongly at night when light is lit in the windows of the houses that are still occupied, Zumthor conceived a long room stretching along the edge of the sea, with 91 lit windows.

Bourgeois added the burning; a metal chair lit by a gas flame and overlooked by a ring of seven large mirrors. She asked Zumthor to design the enclosure of blackened glass panels. The structure of this architectural commemoration is reduced to a minimum, and moves with the breezes from the sea.