This is a large Dala horse, or Dalecarlian horse, outside the Scandinavian Heritage Museum in Minot, North Dakota. While I’m not in Minot at the moment (I’m headed to Quito, Ecuador later this week), I happened upon this statue two years ago during the month of December. I had read about the small museum here which has several monuments to its Scandinavian ancestors including a Norwegian stabbur, statue of Hans Christensen Anderson, and this approximately 10 meter (30 foot) Dala horse. Most Dala horses are tiny wood carvings given to children as toys and have become symbolic of Sweden in general.
The Scandinavian Heritage Museum is an interesting place to visit in a small town where there isn’t much else. Aside from the museum, Minot has the distinction of being (by far) the coldest place I’ve ever been. Here are a few more pictures from Minot and the museum that have been up for a while but I’ve never posted.
I think it’s fun to discover museums like this in small towns across the U.S. (and the world). Why were you in Minot, North Dakota? In December?
I took on a short on-site consulting project there…it turned out to be much more interesting than I imagined 🙂
This reminds me of a colorful Trojan horse, haha 🙂
I too was waiting for a gang of Vikings to pop out and reclaim their stake in North Dakota 🙂
Looks like something for a grown kid. 🙂
Would have been fun to climb it but that Dala was huge!
What an interesting monument- if I’m ever in North Dakota- I do believe I would want to make this one of my stops.
It’s funny to see out of nowhere, all of the Scandinavian nations’ flags and then these monuments down the street from a strip mall right in town.
Wow – North Dakota – who knew! My parents live in South Dakota near the border – so I may have to make a trip north next time to check this out! Is there any Scandinavian food in the town too?!
Unfortunately not (at least I didn’t find any) :/
Hey Anil,
I can’t believe you didn’t climb up and pretend to be a mini-cowboy! It reminds me of all the ‘big stuff’ in Aus. They seem to have a monopoly on oversized tourist attractions down-under, but as your Dala horse proves there’s plenty of competition out there.
Hi Sam,
It wasn’t for lack of trying. Now, if I only had a rope…
I find it quite fascinating that the Dala horse has been spread so world wide! It’s inspired by the very special kurbits-painting technique which actually is used on all kind of things, mostly furniture. Very special.
Yes, I’ve been there seeing how FAST they paint those horses!!!
I’ll definitely have to look that up, you’ve gotten me curious 🙂 You Swedes are always exporting great things to the world. My slogan for the nation would be:
“Sweden…we export awesomeness.”
🙂
are you referring to something special you got exported to you? 😉
Yes, I probably made off with the best export from Sweden 🙂