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The Swedish Classroom reflects a peasant cottage and contains murals painted by Olle Nordmark. The special glory of the room is the rear wall paintings. The inspiration for the four framed paintings came from painted panels done by the 18th-century painter from Hälsingland, Gustav Reuter. Linton Wilson found the panels at the Nordic Museum.
The hooded brick fireplace derives from an original in the Bollnäs Cottage in Skansen, the famous outdoor museum in Stockholm. The brilliant white walls and fireplace are constructed of 200-year-old handmade bricks. The fire tools were handwrought by Ola Nilsson, a Swedish blacksmith. He reconstructed tools used in his childhood home in Sweden.
A subtle sense of humor associated with the Swedish people is revealed in the room's paintings. A wall fresco secco depicts the Three Wise Men dressed as cavaliers riding to Bethlehem, in two directions. In their midst is Sweden's patron saint, St. Catherine. The sloped ceiling bears decorations in which the central figure is the Archangel Gabriel, seen as a droll trumpeter with two left feet. Nearby are renditions of Justice and Knowledge surrounded by groupings of flowers. Justice uses her blindfold to hold scales that appear balanced but have an off-center fulcrum. Knowledge seems puzzled as she contemplates writing on her slate with a quill pen.
Furniture and woodwork are the work of Erik Jansson of Philadelphia. The classroom's oak furniture is stained a muted gray-blue tone, similar to that found in old Swedish homes. Floral designs, in colors that complement the amber tone of fir wall benches, brighten the door and archive cabinet. The red brick floor is set in a herringbone pattern.
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The United States is one of the most diverse countries on earth, jam packed full of amazing sights from St. Patrick's cathedral in New York to Mount Hollywood California.The Northeast region is where it all started. Thirteen British colonies fought the American Revolution from here and won their independence in the first successful colonial rebellion in history. Take a look at these rolling hills carpeted with foliage along the Hudson river here, north of New York City.The American south is known for its polite people and slow pace of life. Probably they move slowly because it's so hot. Southerners tend not to trust people from "up north" because they talk too fast. Here's a cemetery in Georgia where you can find graves of soldiers from the Civil War.The West Coast is sort of like another country that exists to make the east coast jealous. California is full of nothing but grizzly old miners digging for gold, a few gangster rappers, and then actors. That is to say, the West Coast functions as the imagination of the US, like a weird little brother who teases everybody then gets famous for making freaky art.The central part of the country is flat farmland all the way over to the Rocky Mountains. Up in the northwest corner you can find creative people in places like Portland and Seattle, along with awesome snowboarding and good beer. Text by Steve Smith.
