Impressions of Sweden: Växjö och Museer, del två (Växjö and Museums, Part 2)

In Växjö, there is a complex near downtown called the Kulturparken that included the Smålands Museum, the Swedish Glass Museum and the House of Emigrants.

After we all arrived in Växjö on Friday, July 4, my sister and I took a walk down there to take a look around.

We located the museum buildings, and also saw some other interesting things.

Some buildings with lawns for roofs.

Apparently, this is a traditional type of roof, and does not mean that the building is neglected and derelict. Unlike the house across the street and down a couple houses, when we moved into our house back in 2009. The elderly lady who had formerly resided there had been unable to properly maintain it. Consequently, various types of vegetation had decided to make their home on her roof. We called it the Hobbit House. It was demolished one week in October when we just happened to be out of town on vacation. The lot sat vacant for a good two years or more, until it was finally cleared and a new home constructed last year.

But I digress.

The other fun and cool thing we saw was a disco ball on Växjösjön (Växjö Lake). 

The thing it most immediately brought to mind for both of us was some Christmas ornaments our parents gave us one year when we were kids.

It also revolved, as seen in this video.

On Sunday, Palma and I visited the museums in the Kulturparken.

At the House of Emigrants, the emphasis was on the experience of Swedish emigrants arriving in America and their experiences there -- rather than on the political, economic, and cultural climate in Sweden that might have prompted them to leave, which would have been of more interest to us, personally.

There was also this kind of strange and weirdly creepy and off-putting exhibit of photographs called "Purity." Here is the description from the website: "Photographer David Magnusson has photographed and interviewed participants in 'Purity balls' in the United States. These balls are a ceremonial rite that leads many to raise their eyebrows. At the prom the daughters promise their fathers 'purity' and that they will remain chaste until they marry. Fathers promise in turn to protect their daughters."

Yeah, I definitely raised my eyebrows. I'm sorry, but those photos look like some sort of incestuous bridal photographs.

In an interesting juxtaposition, there was another exhibit in the Smålands Museum called "Secret Love," described thusly: "In Secret Love more than 150 works of art by 24 contemporary artists are presented. They are united in the desire to give visual expression to taboo love, and by the interest in subjects that in China and many other parts of the world are loaded, such as sexual orientation, lust, and gender identity."

However, the Glass Museum was awesome!

Again, it was a little too dim inside to take good photographs. But I did manage to get one.

Coming from an area of the planet that is dominated by Dale Chihuly and his style of glass art, it was refreshing to see other representations of the art form.