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Charge Engineering of Mo2C@Defect-Rich N-Doped Carbon Nanosheets for Efficient Electrocatalytic H2 Evolution

  • The Mo2C modified carbon nanosheets produce a graphene wave structure to form localized charges and further enhance the N-doping effect.

  • The optimal sample shows a Tafel slope as low as 60.6 mV dec−1 and high durability up to 10 h in acidic media.

Charge engineering of carbon materials with many defects shows great potential in electrocatalysis, and molybdenum carbide (Mo2C) is one of the noble-metal-free electrocatalysts with the most potential. Herein, we study the Mo2C on pyridinic nitrogen-doped defective carbon sheets (MoNCs) as catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Theoretical calculations imply that the introduction of Mo2C produces a graphene wave structure, which in some senses behaves like N doping to form localized charges. Being an active electrocatalyst, MoNCs demonstrate a Tafel slope as low as 60.6 mV dec−1 and high durability of up to 10 h in acidic media. Besides charge engineering, plentiful defects and hierarchical morphology also contribute to good performance. This work underlines the importance of charge engineering to boost catalytic performance.

With the intensification of global energy consumption and severe environmental deterioration, sustainable and environmentally friendly approaches have aroused increasing interest [1]. Among ongoing attempts to produce clean fuels, the electrolysis of water to produce H2 is attractive [2,3,4,5,6]. The key to this problem is to seek an effective electrocatalyst to minimize the overpotential for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). To replace Pt-based noble metals, abundant earth catalysts have received great attention [7,8,9,10,11]. Because of their similar electronic structure and catalytic behaviors to Pt [12], Mo-based compounds [13, 14], especially molybdenum carbide [15], have drawn tremendous fascination. On the other hand, the electronic structure significantly affects the interaction between the catalyst surface and reactants [4, 16,17,18,19,20]. Charge engineering is an important strategy to regulate the surface/interface behaviors involved in catalysis. For example, Sasaki et al. [21] found that carbide ligand changed the d-electron configuration of Mo2C to moderate Mo–H binding energy, leading to enhanced-HER activity.

Recently, researchers have paid great attention to nitrogen-doped defective carbon materials for electrocatalysis [22,23,24,25,26]. The defects not only play an important role in the adsorption/desorption during reaction, but also change the electrical conductivity of the catalysts to regulate the electronic structure [27]. However, related work on the application of MO2C to pyridinic N-doped carbon is limited. Furthermore, for gas-involving electrocatalysis, the hierarchical morphology is also important to optimize the gas/mass transport [16].

Considering the above-mentioned observations, Mo2C@ defect-rich N-doped carbon nanosheets (MoNCs) were developed. The theoretical results imply that the introduction of Mo2C produces a graphene wave structure, which to a degree behaves like N doping to form localized charges. As expected, the catalyst shows high-electrocatalytic HER activity with a Tafel slope as low as 60.6 mV dec−1 and stability up to 10 h in acidic media, making it one of the best Mo2C electrocatalysts. The multifold design, including charge engineering and nanoarchitecture construction, contributes to the HER performance.

Experimental Section

Ammonium heptamolybdate ((NH4)6Mo7O24·4H2O), melamine (C3H6N6), sucrose, and sulfuric acid (H2SO4, 98%) were bought from Tianjin Kaida Chemical Factory, Tianjin Kermel Chemical Factory, Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd., and Beijing Chemical Factory, respectively. Nafion solution (5 wt.%, Dupont D520) and Pt/C (20 wt.%, JM) were bought from Shanghai Hesen Electric Co., Ltd.

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) was prepared by simple calcination. A certain quantity of melamine was placed in an alumina crucible (100 mL) with a cover and then heated at 550 °C for 4 h in a muffle furnace (2.3 °C min−1). Subsequently, the obtained light-yellow solid product was milled into a powder state and sealed for later use. Next, ammonium heptamolybdate, sucrose, and g-C3N4 were mixed together (1:2:2, mass ratio). The homogeneous mixture was placed in an alumina crucible and then transferred to the center of the tube furnace. After pumping and purging the system three times with N2 flow, it was heated to 800 °C (3 °C min−1) and maintained at 800 °C for 6 h under flowing N2. The obtained black sample, called MoNCs (Mo2C@N-doped carbon sheets; the mass ratio of g-C3N4 and ammonium heptamolybdate is 2), was then ground to a fine powder without further treatment. For comparison, MoNCs-0, MoNCs-1, and MoNCs-5 (the mass ratio of g-C3N4 and ammonium heptamolybdate is 0, 1, 5), as counterparts, were also prepared in the same way.

Materials Characterization

X-ray diffraction (XRD) was applied on Siemens D-5005 with Cu Kα radiation (2θ = 0.02° per step). X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) were performed with an Al Kα source (Thermo Scientific ESCALAB Ka+). The transmission electron microscope (TEM) operated on JEM-2100 at 200 kV. The nitrogen adsorption isotherm (ASAP 2020 at 77 K, USA) was recorded by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) equation and Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) model. The Raman spectrum was measured on LabRAM HR800. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was carried out on an SDT Q600 (TA) instrument under air flow (10 °C min−1) up to 700 °C. The product transformed according to the following reaction: Mo2C + 4O2 = 2MoO3 + CO2 [28].

Computational Details

In this work, nanosheets with Mo2C nanoparticles have been modeled as single-layer graphene in a 6 × 6 × 1 supercell, and Mo2C in a 5 × 5 × 2 supercell. The cell and atomic coordinates are fully relaxed based on the density functional theory implemented in the Vienna Ab-initio Simulation Package (VASP) v5.3.5 [29,30,31] with grimme-D2 correction [32], where the PBE functional [33] and PAW pseudopotential [34, 35] have been used. The criteria of convergence of energy and force have been taken as 1 × 10−6 eV and 0.01 eV Å−1, respectively, the energy cutoff is set to 450 eV, and a 3 × 3×1 k-mesh is used to sample the Brillouin zone [36, 37]. The parameters are comparable to those in Refs. [36, 37]. In the core-level shift (CLS) calculation, the final state approximation has been adopted.

Electrochemical Measurements

The HER measurements were performed in a typical three-electrode cell in 0.5 M H2SO4 using a CHI 660e electrochemical station (Shanghai Chenhua Co., China) at room temperature. A glassy carbon electrode (GCE) 8 mm in diameter, a saturated calomel electrode (SCE), and a graphite rod electrode were used as the working electrode, reference electrode, and counter electrode, respectively. All of the potentials were converted to the potential versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) according to E (RHE) = E (SCE) + 0.241 + 0.059 pH. The working electrode was fabricated as follows: A catalyst ink was prepared by dispersing 6 mg of catalyst into a mixed solution including 40 μL Nafion solution and 1 mL of 3:1 v/v water/isopropanol via sonication for at least 1 h to form a homogeneous ink. Then, 20 μL of well-dispersed catalyst ink was drop-casted on the glassy carbon electrode, producing a ~ 0.23 mg cm−2 loading for all samples, and the modified GC electrode was then dried at 50 °C in a drying oven for the following test. Before data collection, all working electrodes were pretreated by cyclic voltammetric scanning in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution to activate the electrodes. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements were tested in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution with open-circuit voltage at a frequency from 10 mHz to 100 kHz at an amplitude of 5 mV.

Results and Discussion

We combined Mo2C and N-doped graphene and theoretically simulated its atomic structure with first-principles calculation. Due to the limitation of computations, we used a slab of Mo2C covered with one layer of graphene to simulate part of the interface region of Mo2C and graphene. The vacuum was added in the direction perpendicular to the graphene plane, and periodicity was kept in the other two directions. According to the literature [37, 38], the β-Mo2C is a meta-stable structure at high temperature, where the Mo atoms are packed in a hexagonal close-packed structure, and the C atoms randomly occupy half of the octahedral interstitial sites (Fig. 1). As noted, the Mo2C@N-doped graphene has two types of structures: The Mo-terminated surface adhered to the graphene, and the C-terminated surface adhered to the graphene. We found that in Mo-terminated Mo2C@N-doped graphene, the graphene was approximately 2.22 Å above the Mo2C (Fig. 1b). Interestingly, the phenomenon of a graphene wave was observed, which should be attributed to the mismatch of the graphene and Mo2C unit cell. We have reason to believe that the graphene wave could introduce more localized charge density on some C sites, as indicated by the yellow circles (Fig. 1f), leading to the redistribution of electrons on the graphene and formation of a gradient of charge density to increase active sites. For C-terminated Mo2C@N-doped graphene, the graphene is found to be self-reorganized in the bulk defect region and approximately 3.96 Å above Mo2C (Fig. 1d).

Fig. 1

The a top and b side views of Mo-terminated Mo2C@N-doped graphene with pyridinic N dopant; the c top and d side views of C-terminated Mo2C@N-doped graphene with pyridinic N dopant; the charge distribution of e the unpaired electron of pyridinic N-doped graphene; and f Mo-terminated Mo2C@N-doped graphene with pyridinic N dopant. The N atom is circled in red. The locations of charge accumulation on graphene are circled in yellow. The figures are plotted with VESTA [39]

Here, a Mo2C slab covered with one layer of graphene was used to simulate the real case, in which Mo2C nanoparticles are enclosed in nanosheets. Given that the nanoparticles have various shapes and sizes, the structural change and charge localization on the graphene should be more significant, as the nanoparticles have curved and highly indexed surfaces. On the other hand, with the increase in the number of nanosheets, the effect weakens. However, for a nanoparticle with two or three layers of nanosheets, the predicted phenomena should occur and contribute to the catalysis. Moreover, to clarify the influence of Mo2C on N-doped carbon sheets (NCS) further, we computed the N1s CLS within pyridinic N-doped graphene and Mo2C@N-doped graphene. For Mo-terminated Mo2C@N-doped graphene, the CLS moves forward to a higher energy (Figs. 1e, f and S1). The N1s core level deepens, which means that N achieved more electrons localized on the N atom. This will strengthen the N-doping effect and further promote the HER activity. Apart from these, we also calculated three more types of N doping in the Mo2C region within Mo2C@N-doped graphene, as shown in Fig. S1b–d. All three types of structures yield rather smaller binding energies for N1s core electrons.

The synthesis route of MoNCs is shown in Fig. 2a. The carbonization of sucrose and the decomposition of ammonium heptamolybdate and g-C3N4 were integrated, rendering the simultaneous formation of uniformly dispersed Mo2C and N-doped carbon nanosheets. The synthesis avoids sophisticated or hazardous processes and expensive precursors. Figure 2b clearly displays the diffraction peaks at 34.4°, 38.0°, and 39.4°, attributed to the (100), (002), and (101) plane of hexagonal β-Mo2C (PDF# 35-0787), respectively [40]. No additional peaks were observed except for the (002) diffraction peak of graphite at ~ 26° [41]. Then, the N2 adsorption–desorption measurement (Fig. 2c) was carried out to investigate the specific surface area and pore structure. The typical type-IV isotherm curve is noted according to the Brunauer–Deming–Deming–Teller classification [42], verifying the presence of mesopores [43]. The BET surface area (SBET) is evaluated as 216.4 m2 g−1. The pore size distribution curve indicates the presence of micropores and mesopores, which are probably caused by the released molecules (H2O, CO2, C2N2+, C3N2+, C3N3+, etc.) during the carbonization of sucrose [44, 45] and the decomposition of g-C3N4 [46]. There is no doubt that the hierarchically porous structure will supply adequate diffusion passageways to strengthen the mass transfer [47].

Fig. 2

a Illustration of the synthesis route, b XRD pattern, c nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, and d the corresponding pore size distribution curves of MoNCs

In Fig. 3a, b, the typical TEM and HRTEM images reveal that MoNCs mainly consisted of a large amount of 1–3-nm Mo2C (inset in Fig. 3b) particles wrapped in thin carbon nanosheets. The lattice spacing is ~ 0.23 nm, corresponding to the distance between the (101) crystal planes of β-Mo2C. The thin carbon nanosheets (3–5 graphene layers) with lattice spacing of ~ 0.34 nm not only inhibit the agglomeration of Mo2C, but also guarantee the fast electron transfer and effective exposure of active phases. Massive defects were also noted (white arrows). The elemental mapping (Fig. 3c–f) result indicates that the Mo, N, and C atoms were homogeneously distributed. The Raman spectrum (Fig. 3g) also displays the typical D-band and G-band at 1341 and 1583 cm−1, respectively. The D1, D3, D4, and G peaks were fitted [48]. The high value (2.16) of ID1/IG implies abundant defects, which are believed to enhance the electrocatalytic activity [49]. The Mo2C content in MoNCs determined by TGA is ~ 50.0 wt.% (Fig. S2). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to further characterize the composition and chemical state of each element. As seen in Fig. S3, the survey XPS spectrum of the MoNCs shows obvious signals of elemental Mo, C, and N, which is consistent with the elemental mapping result above. The Mo 3d XPS spectrum (Fig. 3h) was deconvoluted into six peaks, corresponding to Mo2+ (228.6 and 232.4 eV), Mo4+ (229.3 and 232.8 eV), and Mo6+ (233.2 and 235.9 eV) species [50]. Mo2+ comes from Mo2C, which serves as the active sites for HER [51, 52]. In Fig. S4, the main peak at 284.6 eV in the deconvoluted C1s spectrum implies that graphite carbon is the majority species [53]. The N1s XPS spectrum was deconvoluted into two peaks at 401.3 and 398.6 eV (Fig. 3i), corresponding to the quaternary N (20%) and pyridinic N (80%), respectively. The high pyridinic N content will be favorable for HER [54]. Moreover, the element contents in the MoNCs were calculated and summarized in Table S2.

Fig. 3

a TEM and b HRTEM images of MoNCs. Inset in a shows the optical photograph of Mo2C; inset in b shows the size distribution of Mo2C. c High-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) and d–f corresponding elemental mapping images. g Curve-fitting result of the Raman spectrum and the h Mo 3d and i N 1 s XPS spectra of MoNCs

The electrocatalytic HER performance was investigated. For comparison, control samples synthesized with different mass ratios of starting materials were also tested. In Fig. 4a, the MoNCs show a low onset overpotential of 83 mV and the lowest overpotential of 157 mV @ 10 mA cm−2, exhibiting the best HER activity among the four control samples. In addition, the influence of loading mass on the HER activity was also studied (Fig. S5). The linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) curves of the MoNCs are also provided when the loading mass increased from 0.115 to 0.460 mg cm−2, indicating the enhanced-HER performance with more loadings. To demonstrate the HER mechanism, the linear sections of the Tafel plots were fitted to the Tafel equation (η = a + b log (j), where a is the intercept, b is the Tafel slope, and j is the current density), as shown in Fig. 4b. The MoNCs achieve the smallest Tafel slope of 60.6 mV dec−1 among the four samples (Table S3), suggesting that HER can likely proceed through the Volmer–Heyrovsky mechanism [55]. Remarkably, the exchange current density (j0) for MoNCs, calculated by extrapolating the Tafel plot to an overpotential of 0 mV (Fig. S6), was also the highest (2.65 × 10−2 mA cm−2). Compared to the previously reported Mo2C-based non-precious-metal catalysts, the excellent HER performance makes our sample one of the most promising electrocatalysts (Fig. 4c, Table S3). MoNCs show almost no current loss after 1000 CV cycles (Fig. 4e). Furthermore, the current density exhibits a negligible degeneration at a static overpotential of 157 mV after 10 h of constant operation, verifying the high durability.

Fig. 4

a LSV curves of a series of samples measured in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution. Scan rate: 2 mV s−1. b The corresponding Tafel plots. c The overpotentials delivered at 10 mA cm−2 of Mo-based electrocatalysts in recent years. d CV curves of MoNCs. Inset shows the capacitive current measured at 0.10 V versus RHE. e Stability test for MoNCs by CV scanning; inset shows the time-dependent current density curve at a static overpotential of 157 mV for 10 h

The effective electrochemical surface area (ECSA) was evaluated by the electrochemical double-layer capacitance (EDLC, Cdl) (Figs. 4d, 5). The Cdl measured at 0.10 V for MoNCs was the highest (14.31 mF cm−2), indicating more active sites. The EIS was also tested (Fig. S7). The Nyquist plot of the MoNCs displays a small semicircle among them, suggesting lower impedance to accelerate the charge transfer during HER. Furthermore, the turnover frequency (TOF) of MoNCs was estimated [56] (see more details from supporting information). In Fig. S8, the MoNCs achieved a TOF of 0.07 and 1.12 s−1 at overpotential of 150 and 250 mV, respectively. The values were much higher than those of other catalysts, indicating more active sites.

Fig. 5

CV curves of a MoNCs-0, b MoNCs-1, and c MoNCs-5. d The capacitive current of those four catalysts measured at 0.10 V versus RHE is plotted as a function of scan rate

In summary, we illustrate charge engineering of Mo2C@ defect-rich N-doped carbon nanosheets for electrocatalytic H2 evolution. The calculation result indicates that the introduction of Mo2C induces a graphene wave structure, which behaves like N doping to form localized charges for the first time. The thin carbon nanosheets, combined with plentiful defects, facilitate the fast electron transfer and effective exposure of active phases. As a result, the sample displays a Tafel slope as low as 60.6 mV dec−1 and high durability up to 10 h in acidic media, featuring excellent HER catalytic activity and stability. Our work emphasizes the importance of charge engineering in electrocatalysis.

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Y. Lei thanks the financial support from Changsha Science and Technology Plan (kq1801065), Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Plan Project (No. 2017TP1001), and State Key Laboratory Fund and the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFB0704100). Q. Feng acknowledges the NSFC grant (No. 11627901), the Scientific Challenge Project of China (No. TZ2018001), and the visit at the National Joint Engineering Laboratory of Power Grid with Electric Vehicles (Shandong University). The computations are supported by the IMD supercomputing center.

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Correspondence to Yongpeng Lei.

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Lei, C., Zhou, W., Feng, Q. et al. Charge Engineering of Mo2C@Defect-Rich N-Doped Carbon Nanosheets for Efficient Electrocatalytic H2 Evolution. Nano-Micro Lett. 11, 45 (2019).

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  • Molybdenum carbide
  • Nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets
  • Charge engineering
  • Graphene wave
  • Hydrogen evolution reaction


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Call us!
+48 61 222 29 80

Baby bed

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Baby bed Vera

Baby bed Vera guarantees relaxing and calm sleep of the baby. Frame is made of aluminium and steel and its perfect balance makes the bed not only very stable, but also gives it the functionality of the cradle. Thanks to the special system Vera can be easily folded, whereas solid wheels make the movement smooth and effortless. Set contains mosquito net, which protects the baby from insects and provides proper air circulation.

  • Light, stable construction
  • Can be used as a cradle
Dimensions: 92 x 57 x 69
Weight range: up to 15 kg
Warranty: 60 months
(Click to see the other color)

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software: Apache Nutch 1.17 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
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text:
[LAU] [New music]: Edgar and the fog (bigband)

Jeanette C. julien at mail.upb.de
Tue Oct 23 14:44:44 CEST 2018

Hey hey,
I just released a new song, called Edgar and the fog / Weroosh:

It's an experiment in incidental bigband music, with unfortunately
oldfashioned woodwind samples. It's not perfect, but it's going the right way.

What do you think? I'd be glad to know.

Best wishes,

  * Website: http://juliencoder.de - for summer is a state of sound
  * SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/jeanette_c
  * Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMS4rfGrTwz8W7jhC1Jnv7g
  * GitHub: https://github.com/jeanette-c
  * Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeanette_c_s

Open my eyes,
I look deep inside,
I run away... <3
(Britney Spears)

More information about the Linux-audio-user mailing list


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[whatwg] <blockquote cite> and <q cite>

From: Henri Sivonen <hsivonen@iki.fi>
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 14:26:47 +0200
Message-ID: <2CB37CD3-FF41-4471-910B-7E71498BEC6E@iki.fi>
On Jan 3, 2007, at 22:12, Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis wrote:

>> I'll be more convinced about "tools will save us" once I first see
>> that working on a smaller scale than the Web. Let's say TeXlipse with
>> the described UI generating BibTeX entries and inserting the proper
>> \cite{} on the LaTeX side.
> I'm baffled by this. I don't know enough about Tex or TeXlipse to
> understand why you think this would be a helpful test of the
> interface.
> I'm not even sure how it would apply to the Tex world. As far as I can
> see, it's like asking for an implementation of anchor links in
> TeXlipse.
> Might you elaborate on why this would be a better proof of concept
> than
> a Firefox extension?

My point was that BibTeX/LaTeX/TeXlipse users are already receptive
to the idea that they have to provide rich metadata for citations, so
a UI test would not be a matter of testing *if* they provide the data
but about *how* they like to provide it.

Henri Sivonen
hsivonen at iki.fi
Received on Friday, 19 January 2007 04:26:47 UTC

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Wednesday, 22 January 2020 16:58:51 UTC


text:
[Apologies for duplicate receipts.]

Hi, Folks,

For two more days, the Archivists’ Toolkit project team is conducting a survey of the archival community about features the team is considering adding to the AT application.  The team is very much looking to the archival community’s assistance establishing priorities for the duration of the second development phase of the AT.

The survey can be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=uPlsrLsbd3MWRKjCe1BQeQ_3d_3d

If you have not already responded to the survey, it will be available for completion until midnight Pacific Time, Friday, May 30. We greatly appreciate your assistance in this process. If you have any questions, please email us at [log in to unmask].

We look forward to your responses.

Brad Westbrook

AT Project Manger


text:
Available Scenarios

"Scenario" refers to the whole action-oriented learning unit, and "task" refers to the culminating task at the end of the scenario. As a scenario will take a certain number of lessons to be completed, it may include sub-tasks/smaller tasks which will contribute to the successful accomplishment of the culminating task and therefore of the scenario.

Traditional Storytelling for the 21st Century

In order to encourage younger community members to actively appreciate stories, your local library is asking the community to donate some of their favourite childhood fairytales. You take a look through your collection and decide that many of your favourites need to be updated because they are not written in German and do not include any modern morals that would interest the younger generation.

Our Community Cookbook

Some parents in your community have complained that their children are too picky with their food. They’re looking for interesting and tasty recipes to try out and have asked your class for help compiling a new community cookbook. You and your classmates have decided to contribute recipes from different cultures and countries around the world. For this task, each student will create one entry in the cookbook based on their family’s favourite recipe. When the cookbook is completed, you will put it all together and bring a copy home to your family.

Launching a Language Blog

Your principal has noticed that there are fewer and fewer students signing up for language courses at your school and in your community. Next week, your language class will be launching a new blog to help promote a language throughout the school and beyond.

Let’s go for dinner

Your best friend, who doesn’t speak English, is visiting your city and you decide to invite them for dinner on Friday night. You need to spend some time searching for a restaurant together online. You both want to order a drink, a starter, a main course and a dessert, but your budget is only $40.00 each, and that will have to include taxes and a tip.

Winter Olympics

You have just been accepted as a volunteer for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Korea! You will be working in the Olympic Village as a guide for all the visiting athletes. It will be your job to help people from all over the world find their hotels, good restaurants and get to the right sport venues. What questions might the athletes ask you? You must prepare how you will be able to help the athletes.  Part of your job is to know some important greetings and winter sports in several different languages so you can help as many people as possible. Finally, the committee wants you to create a welcome package for the athletes so they can best enjoy their time in Korea.

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text:
Beniušis. CIA prison case: how long will the government continue its ostrich policy?

The White House called to give Lithuanian authorities time to prepare a response to forthcoming information that Lithuania allowed the CIA to secretly interrogate suspects of the September 11 attacks.

The government’s hapless steps in recent months show, however, that even a three-and-a-half-year period has been insufficient for our top officials to forge a unified stance.

Lithuania made headlines around the world when in late May the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the CIA had operated a secret detention site in Lithuania.

After wide-ranging consultations various government specialists decided that there were no solid legal grounds to appeal the judgment.

Politicians dozed off for the summer, but with two days left before the deadline for filing, the prime minister woke up and, nudged by the foreign minister, unexpectedly instructed lawyers to draw up an appeal. The next morning he openly admitted that the appeal was hopeless as there was next to no chance of the ruling being reversed.

To say the least, this last minute maneuver showed disrespect for both for the government’s own lawyers and for the Strasbourg-based court.

The president did not add much clarity either. Shortly after the court announced its ruling she asserted that Lithuania would comply. If that was an attempt to impose her will on the government, it failed. The president soon backtracked and started insisting that it was not her decision to make.

What happens next?

It is easy to foresee what will happen next:

First, the ECHR’s Grand Chamber will by the end of this year reject Lithuania’s request for the case to be reconsidered and the judgement will take effect.

Second, the United States will not give Lithuania the access to Abu Zubaydah, the Palestinian who was illegally held in Lithuania, that it needs to pay him the damages awarded by the court, and will ignore Lithuania’s requests for more information about the detention center.

Third, the Council of Europe will keep asking Lithuania to explain why it fails to comply with the court’s decision. Russia’s ambassador will lead the chorus.

Fourth, Lithuania will lose at least one more case — against Mustafa al-Hawsawi, a terror suspect from Saudi Arabia – within the next five years. There is a possibility that the country will also have explain its actions to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

And every time the matter comes up, the government will have to state its position. At the moment it’s hard to decipher what it might be. “For now, let’s assume that this did not occur in Lithuania, but when a final decision without the right of appeal is taken, then, unfortunately, we’ll have to accept fact,” the prime minister said lamely.

Expectations by politicians and diplomats that the story will silently sink into oblivion will fail to materialize, if only because the Guantanamo detainees’ lawyers will keep bringing it up. Lithuania will be forced to continue writing reports on its efforts to ascertain the truth, so it’s time to decide whether there will be other “last minute offers” or real and consistent work.

Where are the millions?

The decision by the Lithuanian authorities to allow the CIA to build a prison can be understood — but not necessarily justified – as a sincere attempt to show that the country is a loyal ally and forge closer ties with the US, a relationship that would be beneficial to Lithuania.

Vilnius can also point out that the existence of the Lithuanian prison was kept secret for longer than the existence of similar sites in Romania or Poland, and that information on the jail first surfaced on the other side of the Atlantic. In this respect Lithuania demonstrated its trustworthiness.

However, the US Senate report seems to suggest that millions of dollars were given to the Lithuanian authorities in “appreciation” of their favorable attitude. But Lithuanian prosecutors have not ascertained who were the beneficiaries of US munificence, and seem unlikely to do so anytime soon.

Since all information about prosecutors’ investigation is classified, we can only speculate about whether the prosecutors have tried to ascertain which officials may have suddenly become rich, whether there is any evidence of conversations with doctors about the treatment of the detainees, how and who made the decisions on supporting the jail in Antaviliai, and how they were disguised, and whether cross-examinations were held regarding the contradictory statements made by politicians and the heads of the State Security Department in earlier investigations. The prosecutor’s office should be held accountable for the quality of its investigations.

It’s time for our politicians stop parroting the statements made in 2010 that Lithuania is incapable of ascertaining if any terror suspects were flown to the country. This outdated statement does not hold water. The Lithuanian Seimas should launch a new investigation that, after examining the materials of the US Senate report and the Strasbourg court’s file, might reach the conclusion that not only were there secret flights to Lithuania, but detainees on board as well.

As the authorities prepare to pay hundreds of thousands of euros in damages to the Arabs held as prisoners in Lithuania, tax-payers deserve at least a sincere effort to trace the millions of dollars that came from America and vanished in thin air.

You may like


text:
Spying case: Belarusian KGB agent used to live in Lithuania, witness says

Romualdas Lipskis
DELFI / Tomas Vinickas

Lithuanian citizen Romuald Lipskij, a former employee of state company Oro Navigacija (Air Navigation), is currently standing trial for alleged spying and handover of information to Kurulenko.

“I am not acquainted with Lipskij, but I know Sergey Kurulenko. He was my classmate, we graduated from school together,” Olga Kiricenko, a witness in Lipskij’s spying trial, told the court on Thursday.

The woman used to live in Tauragė and Ukmergė, Lithuania, and now resides in the Russian region of Kaliningrad. She said she lost contact with Kurulenko and her other classmates and later the former classmates started communicating via an online social group.

Kiricenko and Kurulenko attended the same school in Ukmergė but they lost contact once again in 2013 as Kurulenko stopped responding to messages and logging in to his account.

The witness also told the court she owned an apartment in Vilnius and let Kurulenko stay there. He told her he was in tourism business.

Lipskij is now on trial for spying for Belarus. On Nov. 10, 2014, the Lithuanian Prosecutor General‘s Office and the State Security Department said Lipskij was charged with spying for Belarus. The court was presented with seven volumes of case materials, including 1,300 documents and 26 storage devises with various audio and video recordings.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said the suspect, who at the time worked for Oro Navigacija, used to secretly make photos of documents and other objects and gave the information to the Chief Intelligence Board of the Belarusian Armed Forces’ General Staff.

Lipskij denies any wrongdoing and said the information he presented to a Belarusian citizen was publicly accessible.

He is facing up to 15 years in prison.

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text:
A Lovely Shade of Pale…

Spring and warmer weather are here, and with the milestone of Easter behind us, it’s officially time to usher lighter colors into our closets. I get excited to break out the white denim, but honestly in the south, we can get away with wearing white year-round.

The “fashion rules” of stowing away white clothing after Labor Day and only wearing in the summer originated with fashion editors in the northeast (where they actually experience seasons) who wanted to shed their darker colors during the warm weather. According to a Time article, during the early 20th century, white clothing represented leisure and was fittingly worn during summer months. Labor Day marked the end of summer and thus the end of leisure dress.

Since we live in a place celebrated for being “famously hot” we understand the need for dressing as comfortably as possible to combat the oppressive temperatures. Therefore we tend to wear our sandals longer into the season, and Charleston gentlemen notably forgo dress socks. All that being said, now it’s officially time for white. Here are a few bright, white pieces that Little Lovely and I will be adding to our wardrobes this season.  Jack Rogers white and gold sandals – and there’s a flash sale today // J.Crew toothpick jean // Bardot ruffle shift dress // Proper Peony White Cherry Dress // Ecru flutter sleeve top // Pink Bows Smocked Bows Dress by Smockingbird Kids

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text:
Oslo: Norsk Folkemuseum

During our first big day in Oslo we visited the Norsk Folkemuseum. Since I have so many photos and info to share about this museum I had to dedicate an entire post to it. I’m not sure if it will interest you, but since I’m studying museum studies and a history buff I wanted to document my visit. This was the first open-air museum that I have ever visited, however on this trip I saw quiet a few. I really enjoyed each one and the different ways they presented their rich cultural history. The Norsk Folkemuseum was probably one of my favourites for its large scale representation of Norwegian history, the visible interiors and towns people.

The Norsk Folkemuseum illustrates how people across Norway lived from 1500s until today. The open-air museum is a recreates the old town of Oslo and the Norwegian country side. Buildings from across the country have been brought and place in a life-size diorama to demonstrate the different cultural experiences of the Norwegian people. Throughout the open-air museum there are hosts dressed in traditional clothing. They welcome you into the homes, offer a wealth of information and make the whole experience more authentic. During the summer season many of the buildings are open, with visible interiors and activities. There are special theme days where the museum also offers folk music, dancing, handicrafts and baking. So if you planning your visit it would be worth checking out their calendar. The Norsk Folkemuseum also offers indoor permanent and temporary exhibitions, which feature many national treasures and artefacts. There are also a couple of places you can get something to eat, so you can really take your time and make a day of it.

If your in Oslo and have a 3-5 hours to spare I really recommend visiting the Norsk Folkemuseum. The museum gives you quiet a broad representation of Norwegian cultural history. The open-air museum is just enormous and is lovely to walk through and take in the cultural difference in the different regions. One of the stand out features for me was also the Stave Church, which has been well-preserved and was probably the best one I seen. The indoor exhibitions also cover quiet a lot of different topics to further give you a greater appreciation for Norwegian culture.

On our visit to the Norsk Folkemuseum we arrived quite early in the morning and started with open-air area of the museum. We then visited a couple of the indoor exhibitions, had lunch at Arkadia Cafe and then finished the rest of the exhibits. If your most interested in seeing what we had to eat, then go to the end of this post. Below I have include the map, which shows you what you can actually see during the summer season. For more information see their brochure. Also if more information on the different regions and buildings click linked words and auto-translate to English on your browser.

We arrived through the main entry gate. Just inside this area there is the Visitors Centre building to purchase tickets, souvenirs, an indoor exhibition. The Arcadia cafe is also adjacent to this building, which can also be visited by the general public.

From there we entered the Square (Torget), where we passed the classic old news kiosk or a Narvesenkiosken.  These kiosks were an important staple in Norwegian towns and functioned as a ‘window to the world’ and a social meeting place. Unfortunately it wasn’t open on our visit, although it was early when we passed by it.

The large cream building holds a large exhibition which continues into the yellow building. We visited this exhibitions last, which you can see near the end of this post. The large green building is probably the most beautiful building in square. Currently it doesn’t have access, but it will be housing the new exhibition, Timescape 1600 – 1914: Reshaping Norwegian Culture in 2019. When we arrived we saw one of the first towns people walking through the square, who was there perhaps to greet new customers.

Gamlebyen / The Old Town

Next we began our tour in Gamlebyen/The Old Town.  This old town includes buildings from parts of Oslo, including Kvadraturen, Vaterland, Fjerdingen, Grønland, Hammersborg and Enerhaugen.

Gamlebyen was inspired by Christiania, which was the town, which the King ordered to built after the fire of 1624 in Oslo. To reduce the risk of fire damage, the streets were designed in a grid like pattern and the houses had to be made completely of brick or half brick in ‘in the Danish fashion’. Christiania was a typical Northern European town of 330 properties and later became the capital of Norway in 1814. It wasn’t until the 19th century that the central parts of the town began to change, as residents and small craft stores were pushed out to build new buildings for offices and wholesales. Tenements were began to be built to house larger amounts of people in the 1860s, which changed the landscape of the town. The working families resided in the east end and the more prosperous in the west end, around Bjørvika (harbor area).

This area of the museum was one of my favourites for it authentic old town feel and many open buildings, that we could go in and discover something we weren’t expecting to find. I was able to visit most of the buildings except a couple because there were school student doing a guided tour and we could not take entry.

Some of the buildings with interesting histories include building 218 Rødfyllgata 12 of Vaterland, building 222 Christian Krohgs gate 16 of Fjerdingen. Also other buildings from the Kvadraturen district: building 221 Tollbugata 14, building 216 Kirkegata 15, building 213 Drtonningensgate 15 and building 224 Fred. Olsens gate 13.

The first visible interior we saw was the Apotek og Urtehage (Pharmacy and Herb Garden), which behind building 213 (Dronningensgate 15). To get into it we actually entered this pathway which took us through the Herbal Garden. This garden has a collection of most usual medicinal plants, which were mentioned in the ancient Norse medical textbooks, as well as old legends and traditional remedies. It contains 160 different herbs, trees and shrubs and combines elements from old monastic, original botanical and pharmacy gardens. Scandinavian medicines were linked to monasteries since the Middle Ages and many of their plants were imported from Southern Europe. In 1672 all pharmacies in Denmark-Norway were required to establish a herbal garden to be self-sufficient. Christiania actually established their own in 1628, which I’m sure would of looked similar to this.

Adjacent to the gardens is the Farmasimuseet/Pharmacy museum, which  is large building with an elephant over the door. Inside we saw the Material chamber, which stores large quantities of chemicals, powdered herbs, dry extracts, other dry ingredients and drugs. In the staircase area was many statues of Pharmacy Symbols, which were typical from the Middle Ages. Upstairs there was the exhibition, What cures what?, which displayed different drugs to treat at different diseases and aliments. Unfortunately most of it was in Norwegian. There was also another door outside the building, which was locked, but I believe that would be the old storefront of the Pharmacy.

From the Herb Garden we were able to get access to building 212, Radhusgata 7, of Kvadraturen, which was the Outbuilding Jail or Town hall Prison in 1700. We were only able to see one room, which had a sad story about Hans Nielsen Hauge.

Building 221, Smålgangen 5 of Grønland district, was the next building down. This suburban cottage was from 1700 and was typical of this era in both Christiania (Oslo) and on the outskirts of town. It consists of two rooms and an attic, but it would have also been accompanied by another two buildings for living areas and laundry. Homes like this may also function as a tavern. This particular cottage was home to 10 people (3 families) and 3 lodgers in 1801 about 10, but by 1855 it had increased to 26 families (5 families).

The building 223 Vognmannsgata 9 of Vaterland is an old fashioned grocery store, Kononial-Melk-Delkatesssen from 1800-1850/ca 1900. The name of the store implies that it probably sold imported goods from the colonies. They probably sold coffee, tea, sugar, flour, tobacco, wine, beer and other imported foods.

This store is open during the summer and you can even buy old fashion candy and soup. The store has a strong smell of licorices. I wish we could have bought some but we only had card, rather then cash.

Building 218 is Christiania Sparebank of Rødfyllgata 23, in the Vaterland district. The original building was actually a suburban home built in 1700-1750. However, it now is an exhibition of an 19th century Norwegian banking office in Christiania (Oslo).

The largest building in Gamblebyn is the Apartment building (Tenement) from Wessels gate 15, in Christiania. This 19th century three-storey brick building contains eight period interiors and three exhibitions. The building was originally built in 1865 and is a typical representation of residential living during its time. It was occupied by middle class peoples, such as shopkeepers, craftsmen and employees. The interiors in this building are just fantastic and worth walking all those stairs with a toddler. I did miss quiet a bit, since I didn’t realise there was more on each level.

The ground floor of the building houses an Alcohol Retail Monopoly Shop from 1932, the exhibition Living in the City (brick tenement & its people) and the exhibition, Maler’n.  I must have missed Home of Cleaning Lady Mrs. Gunda Eriksen 1950.

On the first floor there is the interior Norwegian Home in the New Age, depicting a Schoolteacher’s Home from 1905; The Bonytt Home which is an Interior Architects’ Home from 1979. From this level I believe I missed the Pakistani Home in Norway 2002 and Alvihild’s Bed-Sitter from 1982.

On the second floor I saw the interiors of A Dolls House from 1879 and Teak, TV and Teenagers 1965. I did miss A Pakistani Home in Norway 2002 and Modern Living 1935.

Just behind the tenement is Smålgangen 1 in the Vålerenga (Oslo’s working class district). This Privy building (toilets) was built in 1886 and typical to the kinds of buildings that would have been found in the city in the 1900s. Wessels gate 15 didn’t have a privy until 1950, which was only one-storey but very similar.

Hammerborg and Enerhaugen are within Gamlebyen/Old Town, but are designated their own section. They are both suburbs within Christiania (Oslo). Quiet a few buildings here have visible interiors, but I wasn’t able to see inside all of them, due to tour groups on the day.  Some of them include buildings 206 Johannes gate 4 and building 207 Stupinngate 10, building 203 and 204 Johannesgate 12 and 14, building 201 Kanten 1,

Hammerborg district was built in the mid 18th century, over the edge of a cliff.  The small houses had steep stairways, small veranders, galleries and lean-tos. It had a population of 236 in 1801. The men worked as craftsmen, cobblers, capentenrs, hawkers and pedlars, wheras the woemn were housewives, maids, seamstresses or washerwoman. The area wasn’t rebuilt until 1920s.

Enerhaugen was bought out from a timber merchant in 1815 and by 1833 had a population of 850. It was known for its poverty, crime and drunkenness. Although it improved in 19th century the population continued to increase to 1800 by the 1880s. Most of the homes were one-story timber buildings with one room and a kitchen. Most of the men worked as bricklayers, labourers and carters or in the tobacco industry. The area wasn’t rebuilt until the 1960s.

One of the open buildings from Hammerborg is building 201 of 3B Kairo Tobacco & Fruit store. This building wasn’t open for activities when we visited, but it did have quiet an interesting exhibition about Tobacco. The exhibit, “A tobacco story“, looks at production, consumption and consequences of tobacco. The store front itself is quiet authentic and typical of the kind of stores in Oslo in the 1950s.

The only home I was able to see inside was building 205, which is a 1840’s suburban cottage from Flisberget 2 Enerhaugen. This home had one living room, another small room and a kitchen. It was resided by the Janson family from 1922. The family had 3 children, a lodge and a widow living with them. Although the furnishings are the same ones that Jansen’s had, this home gives you a good idea how so many people would have slept in such a small space.

Before we moved onto the Countryside of the open-air museum, we found a couple of buildings near the old town that represent the coast of Telemark county. These are building 227 Chrystie Town House in Brevik and building 229 Barthe farm in Kragerø. Chrystie Town House is a large yellow house was built in 1761 and has summer activities. Unfortunately it wasn’t open when I went by. The property also brewery, wood house and outbuildings (stables and barns) which are arranged a square courtyard. The Barthe farmhouse was built around 1700. This style of building was typical for coastal homes in the area since the Middle Ages.

The Telemark area includes a ten buildings, which from all from Aust-Telemark (except 137 barn from Vest-Telemark), represent a typical farmstead. There was a really nice hostess dressed in traditional folk clothing in the Farmhouse (131). She was able to tell me a bit about the construction of the building, which had been extended and repair in different centuries. This particular farmhouse was called an uppstugu and was popular among wealth farmers in the 18th century. The red little guest house (132) was also typical building that a wealthier farmer could afford to build and decorate. The painting in this building was done by well known interior painter Ola Hansson of Telemark (1760-1843). Among the floral motifs there are also many old testament biblical figures.

The next town on the northern path represented the Hallingdal valley which is located in the Buskerud county This area is surrounded by mountains and hills and it was historically its main road connected eastern and western Norway. Farming and live stock were the towns most important industries, as well as hunting, fishing and timber drift.

The Hallingdal homestead consists of twelve buildings, most of which were built from 1650-1700.  Two have visible interiors and two have exhibits. The building 121 Farmhouse Gulsvik is special because it was a series of painting by Adolph Tidemanda were set in this house. We were able to walk inside the main room of this building. Building 114 Cowhouse Fjøs from Torsgard and building 119 Barn both have some objects, photos and information on milking cattle and harvesting grain. Building 113 Farmhouse Bjørnebergstølen from Hemesdal is known for the legend Fanitullen or devils trall, but is inaccessible. Probably the most exciting thing for Octavia on this homestead was the sheep and goats.

Next we visited the small homestead Valdres, which is a small district in Oppland. Buildings were typically built on the sides of valleys and slopping terrine. There are are only two buildings, on the homestead, one with a visible interior. Building 31 Farmhouse was built in the 18th century and has three rooms (entrance hall, living room and small side room), as well as a fireplace and  lead-insulated windows. Building 32 Drying kiln was use for drying grain, malt meat and flax. This farm would have at least five other buildings.

A bit further north we found the Festival Grounds and another interesting building, which offers drinks and food in the high season. Building 242 Waiting Hall is Dragon style building from Pipervika in Christiania. It was used for passengers to waiting for ferries. It was designed by architect and built in 1832.

To the west is the town representing of the fertile farming district of Østlandet. These buildings were arranged as a farmstead, but rather display the different buildings traditions mostly from Akershus and also from Østfold and Vestfold. We weren’t able to any of these buildings but we did see the exterior of typical 18th century  farmhouses, building 102 and 101; south-eastern Medieval style barn, building 105 and a potter’s workshop, building 106.

Bur (Storehouses)

As we continued north we came across two buildings from Vest-Agder built around the the 17th century. Bur isn’t a place, but rather a storehouse, used for grain, flour, flat bread, meat and fish. Building 97 is a two-storey building with three spaces, to store food, clothing, and linen and is on pillar’s to keep vermin away. Building 96 is a two-storey barn with a cooler on both levels and internal staircase.

Next we came across one building representing the low-lying coastal region of  JærenBuilding 91 Coastal home from Lende is typically built to protect it from the strong winds. We were able to walk inside this building and see the symmetrical floor plan.

At the very tip of the open-air museum we arrived at Hardanger, which represents the area along the Hardanger Fjord. Buildings on farmsteads were typically built in clusters or rows and land was partitioned due to varying quality of the soil. This area has seven builds, but only building 81 Farmhouse has a visible interior, where you can see the smoke oven, ceiling vent and decorative border drawn for Christmas and weddings.

As we made our way down along the road we came across a couple of buildings representing Voss in Hordaland (not on the map). Building 77 Storehouse is a bu, which is a room without a hearth, wall-mounted beds and would be used as a guesthouse (visible interior). It has tar crosses on the door to protect it from evil. Buildings 76 Storehouse is a bualoft, meaning that it had a loft above for stonework, bedclothes and other appliances, and bottom was for food storage. Although the map indicates it is visable, the door was closed.

Sunn-Og Nordfjord

The next stop was the regions of Sunnfjord and Nordfjord. These areas have many fjords with valleys, mountains and waterways. They are known for their industries of  agriculture, fattening and forestry, hunting, and fishing. Farmsteads in there areas would normally have a cluster or row of buildings with up between 2-13 homesteads per farm. There are only three buildings in this area, but only buildings 74 Storehouse & 75 Guesthouse (duplex-like building) and has a viable interior.

Utmarkshus og smie (Outfield & Smithy) / Vannkraft (water power)

As we continued there was a steep hill on the left with a cluster of buildings, representing Outbuildings, Smithy and Water power. Since I had the stroller, I didn’t both going up there with it. In the photo below you can see building 61 Gate saw, which is from the 16th century. This kind of hydro-powered saw (oppgangssaag) was common during this period, as water power was a great source of energy. The building 62 Fulling mill (behind) was used to make felt-like cloth. The other buildings that I missed were three Outfield buildings (64, 65, 66) and one Smithy (building 63). The outfield were used as a winter fodder for grazing animals. The iron smithy was an infield building but far from other buildings due to fire hazard.

The next area represents the northern region of Trøndelag. There are open buildings with visible interiors and another two with visible exteriors. These buildings are from different farms and we built in 19th and early 20th century. The large yellow building is a Farmhouse from Verdal, built in 1800. In 1950’s the Haug family lived in this 200 years farmhouse and it was renovated with modern fixtures, but still has some of its original character. The furnishings inside are not the same but similar to make it look like it would the 1950s. The large red Farm building from Elnan is a combined outbuilding, which was an ideal design around 1900, as it coule house more live stock under one roof. Inside we only found chickens, that there look likes there would normally also be horses. We found a host girl on her way to her lunch break, but she was nice enough to take a photo.

Husmannsplass Cotter’s farm

The next farm was Husmannsplass, which consisted of four buildings, with visible exteriors only. This is an example of  buildings that would have been rented on in a farmyard as a long-term loan. These buildings were small and often in bad condition. Nearby there were black bunny’s in little homes along the road.

Dnt-Hytta Hovinkoia, Holleia Ringerike

At this point we decided we would go up the hill to the Stave Church. Along the way we found this little seated area for a rest. There was some information about Hovinkoia cabin, which I think was adjacent to this spot.

King Oscar II’s Collection

After a steep walk up the hill we made it up to the Stave Church and King Oscar II’s Collection. In 1881 King Oscar II of Norway and Sweden opened world’s first open-air museum at Bygdø Royal Manor. This museum consisted of five old Norwegian buildings. He did in collaboration with his Chamberlain and the Society of Preservation of Ancient Monuments to demonstrate his interest and strengthen his ties to Norway. In 1907 it was rebuilt in the Norsk Folkemuseum. This buildings were probably the best preserved and most richly decorated.

The Stave Church was originally built in the 13th century and is one of 28 churches of its kind only found in Norway. The entry doors to the church are richly carved with entwined dragon and plant motifs. The altar and adjacent walls are colourfully painted in Middle Ages Catholic style. The last supper is depicted, as well as saints, runic inscrptions, animals and geometric symbols. This Stave church is the only one that I found on my travels that had existing painting, which made it extra special.

Building 182 Farmhouse also had an impressive interior, that was richly decorated. This building is originally from Telemark and was built in the 18th century. It was especially decorated more lavishly to display the life of farmer.

Building 183 Storehouse is also from Telemark and has a lovely craft ceiling, but unfortunately it isn’t visible from outside. It was used as a showroom for beautiful objects by the King.

Koier (Lumber camps)

Once we headed down the hill I decided to venture up another hill to see these couple of lumber camp buildings. These cabins (building 176 and 177) were typical accommodation lumberjacks in pre-industrial times.

Meeting house and school

The next couple of buildings represent a typical Christian meeting house and school of the 19th century. The Bethlehem Meeting House (building 197) is from Lars Oftedal by one of the founders of the Norwegian evangelistic movement. Building 196 Schoolhouse was built in 18866. It has one room for teaching and another for the teacher to live. It was in use until the 1960s.

Saga-stua / Karterud / Friluftsteater

Adjacent to the schoolhouse was a few more buildings. Building 15 Saga-stua is a replica of an open-hearth house from Kjelleberg, Valle and demonstrates how a new building would have looked 300 years ago. Building 166 Karterud is a farmhouse built in 1750. This is a typical manor house found in the Eastern flatlands, which would originally had one floor and then would had been renovated in the mid-18th century. The Friluftsteater is an open-air theatre is typical  of the early 20th century.

Parsonage and gardens

Near the exit towards the Square I upon a pretty pink building and a beautiful garden. Building 191 Parsonage from Leikanger in Sogn. It was originally built for a vicar in 1752, as clergy were giving housing and farming land for a fixed income.  The Garden demonstrates two European gardening traditions, the French and the English. It really is one of the most beautiful places in the museum.

The Sami Site

When I found the Sami site I was happy to see the indigenous people represented. Although the site is very small. It is a recreation of a South Sami site is from 1930 and includes a turf hut, storage house and scaffolding. Fortunately there is a large indoor exhibition of Sami culture, which I did see later.

At this point we were getting a bit tired but we had a few more towns to visit in the central area of the open-air museum. We were told these were the must see areas to visit by the hosts. We first came upon Setesdal, the valley district in Aust-Agder. In this area farmsteads were built on hillsides, with one row of buildings for people and one row for animals. This farmstead has two homesteads and includes twelve buildings. The row on the right side is buildings for people, including medieval open-hearth farm houses building 1-2 & 4), which both have visible interiors. The two-storey buildings on either side (building 3 & 5) are lofts which were for guests accommodation, entertaining and storage. The two of the animal houses (building 7 & 8) on the other side had visible interior and building 8 Cowshed had a nice exhibition of animal statues. At the end there is a building 12 Sauna, was used for bathing and drying grains, malt and flax.

We next walked north and came across farmstead representing eastern Numedal. This farmstead is more compact and displays three farmhouses from different periods. The oldest is building 21 Farmhouse, which is open-hearth house from 13th century (visible interior) and second, building 22 Farmhouse is from 17th century and has a fireplace and is richly decorated (visible interior and host) and building 23 Farmhouse is from the 18th century is furnished and the style that would replace the former (visible interior).

The Seter is the Summer Dairy Farm, which is near Trøndelag farmstead. This is the kind of dairy that was use during the summer in the grazing areas away from the farmstead. This was where the woman would milk the cows and goats, churn butter and make cheese. There wasn’t much to see at this farmstead.

Our last stop in the open-air museum was the farmstead of Østerdal. The houses in this area are organised in double yards, with one for people and one for animals. Building 151 Farmhouse is called a barfrøstue and is two-storey winter house. This style was fashionable in this area and would have been cleaned out during the summer, while the people lived in the Summer farmhouse (building 152). Unfortunately none of the buildings here had visible interiors and the summer activities were not open on this day we visited. While we were here there where some towns people in the field and a girl blowing this flute that was beautiful to listen to.

Toys Exhibition

We were getting pretty hungry now we but as we were making our way back to the square we spotted this little exhibition, Tin soldiers and other toys from 1600s until 1900s. I am not sure if its a permanent exhibition, but there is a space for children to colour in, which gave us a chance to sit down for a little bit. There isn’t a lot of information or any labels in this exhibition but it was still quiet nice to see these antique toys.

Sami Exhibition

From previous exhibition we found the entrance to the Sami Collection.  I was very happy to find this, as I am quiet interested in the indigenous Sami culture. Their way of life is so different from the rest of the Scandinavians. The objects in this exhibition features daily life of Sami communities at the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. I would have loved if they had an audio guide, just to take it all in.

Indoor Exhibition Building

After having lunch (see at the end), we entered the large white exhibition building in the square. In the ground foyer, there were some nice bench seating and some models of Stave churches.

Folk Art Exhibition

From the foyer we kept walking until we entered the Folk Art Exhibition. This exhibition covers pre-industrial Norwegian folk art from the middle of the 1800s until the 1920s. This exhibition was quiet extensive and full of beautiful well-preserved objects.

The Farmers’ Arms Exhibition

The next exhibition we came across was The Farmers’ Arms. This compact exhibition displays weapons used by the Norwegian rural community during 1600 -1850. It includes over 1000 arms and power horns.

Selbu Mittens Exhibition

On the first floor there is currently the temporary exhibition of Selbu Mittens. It consists of 400 mittens from Selbu. They were pretty, but not much information about the objects were included.

Folk Dress Exhibition

Nearby we found the Folk Dress exhibition. Although this exhibit was quiet compact I really enjoyed liked this exhibition of the tradition clothing and jewellery worn by rural people for daily life, churchgoing and other special occasions.

Reformation and Church Art Exhibition

The Reformation exhibition and Church Art exhibition continued into another building and were perhaps my least favourite. The first was quiet text heavy and boring and the second was only able to be viewed from the level above. I quiet like church art from the Middle Ages, so it was a shame I couldn’t have a closer look of the objects.

“The Constitution of the Constitution” Exhibition

Lastly the “The Constitution of the Constitution” exhibition was located back in the Visitors centre. This exhibit is about the Norwegian political history. I consists of paintings of the National Assembly, the first Storting Hall (visible from the gallery) and the Constitution itself.

Arcadia Cafe

Finally if you made it this far you can see what we had for lunch at the Arcadia Cafe. This is the only cafe that was open on the day of our visit and is the main one you will find open all year round. They have a large range of fresh sandwiches, quiches and cakes in the display fridges, as well as a few warm dishes to order.

Since everyone was having the beef, that what I ordered for me and O. It came with this thin bread and butter. The rest of the tables had lovely chunky bread on their tables, but I wasn’t offered it when I ordered unfortunately. The soup itself was pretty lovely, so I had to share it with Marco as well. He wasn’t so hungry so he had a prawn salad sandwich, which he quiet liked. Octavia really wanted ice cream, so we also bought her some raspberry frozen yogurt. She only let me have a little try and it was pretty good.

I hope you enjoyed my tour of the Norsk Folkemuseum. Let me know if you have visited this museum and what your thoughts were.

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Leadership Lessons with Aquinas and Machiavelli

By Olivia Rogers

This article was published in the Dec. 2019 edition of Live Ideas. View it HERE.

With a presidential election approaching, Americans are reflecting more than ever on what “American” leadership means. Two Italian philosophers, Aquinas and Machiavelli, seem to embody the dichotomous view of leadership held by America. Their beliefs exhibit the tension between effective leadership and virtuous leadership. This paper explores those differences and asks the question — are effectiveness and virtue always at odds, or is there something we are missing?

Thomas Aquinas and Niccolo Machiavelli couldn’t seem more different. Aquinas is an emblem of justice, natural law, and Christianity. Just the mention of Machiavelli’s name denotes cunning and scheming, especially in the political realm.

Yet there are striking similarities between these two men: both were Italian philosophers and political theorists. They lived only two hundred years apart. Both were somehow associated with the church (Thomas was a Dominican, Machiavelli closely involved with the ruling class of Florence). Both wrote versions of “mirror” documents that discussed methods of ruling and provided examples of good leadership. Despite these similarities, the two hundred years that passed between Aquinas’ On Kingship and Machiavelli’s The Prince brought a shift in political ideology. What was the cause of the shift, and, perhaps more importantly, how does this shift manifest itself in modern day America?

Interestingly, the United States seems to be batting for both teams when it comes to the ideology of Aquinas and Machiavelli. On one hand, we hold our leaders to the same high moral standard of Aquinas. We want them to be stable, morally pure, fair-minded, and treat all people with respect. On the other hand, we recognize the need for effective government, and are often willing to let moral issues go unnoticed if they don’t interfere with a leader’s ability to carry out his mission. It’s almost as if there are two levels of morality: one that applies to the general society of individuals, and a code of ethics that leaders follow. Leaders can cut corners that individuals couldn’t, because their ultimate goal is different.

This distinction wasn’t drawn for Aquinas and other medieval thinkers. Political philosopher Charles Taylor explains this through the words of Francis Oakley: “Kingship…emerged from an ‘archaic’ mentality that appears to have been thoroughly monistic, to have perceived no impermeable barrier between the human and divine, to have intuited the divine as immanent in the cyclic rhythms of the natural world and civil society as somehow enmeshed in these natural processes, and to have viewed its primary function, therefore, as a fundamentally religious one, involving the preservation of the cosmic order and the ‘harmonious integration’ of human beings with the natural world” (Taylor 151). Leadership was a function of the natural order; good leadership was an inevitable practice of leaders, just like citizens were expected to be virtuous.

Machiavelli writes “How laudable it is for a prince to keep good faith and live with integrity, and not with astuteness, everyone knows. Still the experience of our times shows those princes to have done great things who have had little regard for good faith, and have been able to by astuteness to confuse men’s brains, and who have ultimately overcome those who have made loyalty their foundation” (Machiavelli 72).  A good prince, in Machiavelli’s eyes, knows how and when to be cunning and utilize “astuteness” to his advantage.

Somehow, Americans hold these two views in tandem. Contrasting the definitions of virtuous leadership in the writings of Aquinas and Machiavelli exposes the roots of this paradoxical view, and causes us to ask: can the paradox be resolved?

Thomas Aquinas was born in what is now France to a land-owning family. He joined religious life as a Dominican, dedicated to serving the poor and living in austerity. He was university educated, first at Naples and later in Paris. There, he learned Greek and Arabic so that he could read ancient thinkers such as Aristotle, Al Farabi, Averroes and Maimonides. It was at this time that he absorbed the ideals of independent reason and logic, both of which were foundational to his theological and political works.

Aquinas paired the rational logic of the Greeks with the theology and spirituality of the Church, paving a middle road between two seemingly opposed ideas. His writings parallel the style and logic of Aristotle, if Aristotle compulsively quoted Bible verses. His most famous work is Summa Theologica. It deals with basic philosophical questions like natural law and where moral order comes from. It’s comparable to Aristotle’s Ethics.

Another of his other notable works, On Kingship, is Aquinas’ version of The PoliticsIt begins with Aquinas noting that people are naturally drawn to society, and need some sort of order to guide them. “Human beings have an end to which their entire life and actions are ordered…Humans, however, adopt different methods to proceed towards their intended end…therefore humans need some directive principle to guide them towards their end” (Aquinas 99). That directive principle, he decides, is reason (Aquinas 99).

Reason directs people to the understanding that in order to fulfil their ultimate telos, purpose, it is better that they be in society than alone. Aquinas quotes Proverbs, “When there is no governor, the people shall be scattered” (Aquinas 100). A society is best ruled by one person, as this allows for the greatest amount of unity and a clear direction toward the intended telos of a city. “The aim of any ruler should be directed so that he secures the welfare of those whose government he undertakes” (Aquinas 102). He describes the analogy of a ship, noting that “many men could not pull a ship in one direction unless joined together in some manner” (Aquinas 103). In order to be unified, a single leader is better than many.

However, a single leader is a dangerous thing. There’s no grey area: a ruler is either a king (the best form of government) or a tyrant (the worst form). Aquinas draws a direct link between worldly kingship and divine approval. A good ruler “looks to God for a reward” (Aquinas 107). He doesn’t search for approval from men, or attempt to gain more worldly power than he is given. Kings must live virtuously themselves in order that their subjects might do the same.

For Aquinas, virtue for the common, individual person was indistinguishable from that applicable to the king. The relationship between an individual’s body and soul, between God and his people, and between king and subjects were all parallel. The moral code, the natural law, that was applicable to one segment was applicable to all. The telos of Aquinas’ king was outward-facing: toward the people and their needs, helping to orient them toward their telos to obtain happiness through virtue. “The king ought to recognize that such is the duty he undertakes that he exists in his kingdom in just the same way as the soul exists in the body and God exists in the world” (Aquinas 113).

This is where tyrants differ from kings: “tyrants err when they desert justice for a few earthly advantages; for they are deprived of the great reward which they are able to obtain by ruling justly” (Aquinas 110). A government becomes unjust when the king begins to seek his personal advantage, “rejecting the common good of the multitude” (Aquinas 104). In other words, the telos of the ruler turns inward, instead of outward towards the people.

A tyrant follows his own passions, and in doing so oppresses the people. The negative effects of a tyrant are not only seen in this world but eternally, as a bad king “hinders [the people’s] spiritual good, since those who try to be in charge rather than to be beneficial prevent all progress of their subjects, suspecting all excellence on the part of their subjects to be prejudicial to their harmful lordship” (Aquinas 105). In other words, a tyrant cannot tolerate virtue and excellence in his subjects, because that would hinder him from carrying out his unjust ideas. Virtuous people will not tolerate injustice, and therefore cannot exist in a tyrannical regime.

Aquinas notes that a government of tyrants is not stable or long-lasting. It is “hateful to the multitude,” and “sustained by fear alone,” which is a frail foundation (Aquinas 111). A ruler who is not fulfilling his proper telos is harmful to the people spiritually and physically. In Aquinas’ eyes, he’s not an effective ruler, either. Fear and hatred are no foundations upon which a king can succeed. No ruler, Aquinas says, can steal more from a fearful people than a loving people would freely give up (Aquinas 112). A ruler should strive to be loved by his people by acting virtuously, and in accordance with the divine laws.

Machiavelli’s ideal ruler is in direct opposition with Aquinas. He holds princes to a different set of rules than the common people, in effect arguing that the telos was different. The king wasn’t supposed to bring his people to virtue; he was supposed to rule effectively, keep his people safe, and manage the country.

Machiavelli’s example of an ideal prince is Cesare Borgia. Borgia was a nobleman with excellent political connections, as the son of a pope. He mobilized armies, made alliances, and undermined cities in order to maintain power. During one episode, he appoints a “cruel and able man” (Machiavelli 31) to render the “fullest authority” on an unruly people through means of punishment and justice. After a short time, the people were sufficiently subdued and Borgia removed the man from office, having used him to the degree necessary. Removing the man from power both satiated the people so that they wouldn’t rebel and placed Borgia in a favorable light, as he was seen as the one to save them from a harsh overlord.

Machiavelli praises the actions of Borgia, touting them as great foundations for a stable administration. Machiavelli’s code for leaders was dependent only upon what would keep him in power and provide stability, not a divine code of ethics as Aquinas used. Sometimes, this meant that leaders should act – or at least seem to act – in a moral manner, to appeal to the people. However, Machiavelli wasn’t troubled by whether this is a sincere act of virtue; in fact, he states that a leader need only “seem” to be virtuous, and not actually be virtuous.

Machiavelli’s ideal government was an amoral entity, its purpose being a vehicle for the ambitions of a ruler. Machiavelli redefined “virtue” to mean excellence, cunning, shrewdness. Virtue was removed from the religious context it had in the writings of Aquinas. It now denoted the level of effectiveness of a prince: can he keep his principality under control? Can he ward off threats? There is no inherent purpose in the state; it is simply a means to an end, to use the famous Machiavellian terminology. Indeed, with this black-and-white view of government, Machiavelli hints that the existence of an “ecclesiastical state” and by extension, a church, only stands in the way of a unified Italy. The church is constantly interfering in efforts to gain power and unity, even sabotaging the “perfectly” laid plans of his hero Cesare Borgia. The fact that Borgia was unscrupulous and cruel does not diminish him in Machiavelli’s eyes; he is interested only in power.

Today, American government is a constant balancing act between the practical realism of Machiavelli and Aquinas’ telos. There’s an inherent tension between the ideals of a virtuous society and rulers and effective government. Are both goals able to be pursued? Is there a middle ground between Machiavelli and Aquinas?

Perhaps the answer can be found by venturing outside of the political realm. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, has studied business leadership for years, finding a range of great leaders. In a podcast with entrepreneur and personal development guru Tim Ferriss, he described how a company might be led by a genius – someone who had the ideas, the passion, and the knack for running an excellent business. But that leadership alone didn’t guarantee the lasting success of the company. A transcription of the interview with Collins describes this further: “what’s the difference between these leaders? It wasn’t leadership, because they were both leaders who did leadership. There was something different about the leaders. So there was this signature of their humility, and then their fierce will on behalf of something that’s not about them” (“Tim Ferriss”).

Collins observed how leaders who left legacies “were able to subsume their ego into the company…there’s something about this duality” (“Tim Ferriss”). The great leaders weren’t just humble. They weren’t just passionate about a cause external to themselves. They were both, and that combination looks a lot like Aquinas’ concept of a virtuous king – while also valuing effectiveness and success, like Machiavellian leadership.

Unlike the times of Machiavelli and Aquinas, we are not a nation under a kingship. The American government is divided between three branches, fifty states and thousands of legislators spread across the country. Aquinas and Machiavelli wrote to rulers, imploring and guiding them to act as they directed. But the power to decide what rulership looks like today lies in the hands of the citizens, not kings. Ethics and effectiveness need not be at odds. The pluralism of the American government allows now more than ever for ethics like that of Jim Collins’ business leadership to be applied. It’s up to the communities, states, and the nation as a whole to decide how the “paradox” is resolved.

Works Cited

Aquinas, Thomas. “On Kingship.” Readings in Medieval Political Theory 1100-1400, edited by

Cary J. Nederman and Kate Langdon Forhan, Hackett Publishing Compnay, 1993, pp.

Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Penguin, 2008.

Taylor, Charles. A Secular Age. Harvard University Press, 2018.

The Tim Ferriss Show. Hosted by Tim Ferriss, 18 Feb 2019. Transcript.


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How to Find A Good Personal Tutor For Your Kids

26th Jul 2013

I wasn’t really pleased when my children’s grades started falling and they were not really performing to their expectations. After thorough research I decided to get them a personal tutor to see if he would turn things around. This was the best decision I ever made in my life not only did their grades improve but they also got more interested in their studies where I would not have to push them to do anything since they always have the initiative to do well when it comes to their school work. Some of the things you need to look out for to get a good personal tutor include:

Expertise and experience

The personal tutor I got was very understanding and it was obvious that he had the expertise and knowledge that was needed to handle small kids to achieve great results. He took time to talk to them and find out what were their strong areas as well as weak areas. He also came up with creative and interesting techniques that were used to study so that the children were always interested in their studies and always looked forward to having their sessions with the tutor something that really surprised me a lot because I did not really think that it would amount to this.

Charges and commitment

He also did not charge expensive rates meaning that we did not have to dig deep into our pockets for the children to enjoy his tutoring services. Tutor David that we found works with Tutoring for Excellence in Sydney. Something else that I really liked about him is the fact that he was always punctual and never at one time did we have any complains about him. This goes to show that he really has a passion for his job and is committed. He is also really good with kids, one of the features that made my children love him so much to the extent that we consider him part of the family.

Knowledge and personality

The tutor was well versed with the syllabus that the children were using at school and always comes prepared for the lessons to ensure that no time is wasted. We also found it useful that we decided to interview him before hiring him. This gave us a chance to talk to him face to face to get to know more about his personality and also get to know how he would react when faced with various situations. We also let him spend a little time with the kids to know how he was around them. This way, even when he was to be left alone with the kids we would still be at peace.

I also loved the fact that I would check on the tutor as often as I would like and everything was in place all along. The fact that he also has great listening skills was incredible for the children because they could be able to talk freely with him to come up with solutions for their school work.

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