Meet Trondheim's oldest 'living' resident
Trondheim's oldest "living" resident. A life like remake of a medieval women as she would "typically" look like. Photo: Åge Hojem
When you walk through the doors of the NTNU University Museum, the first thing you see is Tora’s warm, toothless smile. You half expect her to hobble over to greet you, as she looks pretty spry despite her advanced age of 750+ years. You soon realize, though, that this inviting old woman is only an incredibly lifelike recreation, but who was the original Tora?
This article is from the archives of The List Magazine Trondheim and was originally published winter 2022.
The List met with Ellen Grav, an archaeologist, and Kristin Tiller, project manager at the NTNU University Museum, to discuss the museum’s novel exhibition.
Tora might have been part of a Trondheim merchant family. This would have placed her among the higher rungs of society at the time, around the late 13th century.
- Ellen Grav
Trondheim was a large town then, going through its golden age. The grand Nidarosdomen was about to be completed, trade flowed through the town, and the Archbishop’s seat was here.
Photo: Åge Hojem
Tora’s skeleton was discovered in the 1980s when a medieval graveyard was found where Trondheim’s main library is today. Several other remains were excavated, but Tora was chosen for recreation for a special reason.
Most of the skeletons have a rich story that can be uncovered through DNA and other means, but we wanted to pick an individual with a visible story.
- Ellen Grav
And it’s certainly worked.
When you meet Tora, you do get an immediate impression of a real person with a rich history. Her advanced age, in a time when people barely lived past 40, and physical details like her hunched back and swollen finger joints, are threads in her story — all accurately recreated based on her remains.
Filling in the blanks
However, there’s one important thing we have to keep in mind.
There are things we know for certain, but many things about Tora are things she might have been.
- Ellen Grav
First of all, we don’t even know her real name or who she really was. What we do know, though, is when she was alive, where she was buried, and that she was well-fed as a child. That, plus the tough physical labor she did (based on her worn joints), indicates she likely led a life similar to the merchants who were the period’s ‘middle class’. Connecting these dots allowed for the recreation of Tora, but it wasn’t easy work.
“It might seem simple to produce something like Tora, but it’s not. Having a lot of blanks is still hard, and we have to make a lot of choices,” Ellen explains.
Kristin Tiller, the project manager responsible for bringing Tora to life, agrees and says it was still a rewarding process
We spent a long time deciding how we wanted to portray her and how we wanted her meeting with visitors to be. We went with making her approachable. She’s smiling and standing in an inviting manner.
- Kristin Tiller
Then followed a long process of researching artists who could bring Tora to life in an authentic manner.
But why is it so important we don’t leave these blanks unfilled?
Making history come alive
“Tora must have had an extraordinary life when you think of the time period she lived in,” says Kristin. “In just 65 years, she witnessed the incredibly prosperous times of Trondheim, but also the downturn. There were unprecedented crop failures, hunger, and illness.”
Tora must have had an extraordinary life when you think of the time period she lived in. In just 65 years, she witnessed the incredibly prosperous times of Trondheim, but also the downturn. There were unprecedented crop failures, hunger, and illness.
- Kristin
Having an incredibly life-like person from that period standing in front of you makes everything else in the exhibit feel much more real. The upper floor of this building of the museum hosts a full-sized recreation of parts of Trondheim’s former merchant street. Going through the exhibition after meeting a person who might have actually lived in one of these houses brings this experience to a whole new level. And this is evident from Tora’s amazing reception.
We see it both in increased visits and the attention that we’ve gotten online and in the media. I think it's so fun to see visitors stand in front of her like they are waiting for her to breathe. They witness all the incredible details, like the fuzz on her upper lip, the hint of tears in her eyes, and take all this in with awe.
- Kristin
You can visit Tora at the NTNU University Museum, and who knows, she might soon get a new companion from the past to keep her company.
Photo: Åge Hojem
Inviting smile: Life was tough in the Middle Ages, but it was not all doom and gloom. The team behind Tora thought it was important to bring a little light to the ‘Dark Ages’ and tell a more truthful story.
People had feelings, they cared for each other and were happy, just like today. And that’s what we wanted to show with Tora’s smile.
- Ellen Grav
Photo: Åge Hojem
Incredible artistry: The museum hired special effects makeup artist Thomas Foldberg to bring Tora to life. The attention to detail is incredible, down to the smallest liver spots, which Thomas painted by hand. The process took about 8 months to complete.
Authentic details: Tora’s shoes are based on clothing that has been found from the same period, but recreating them was no easy chore. After Nille Glæsel made them by hand, they were worn by Tomas Foldberg’s daughters for a whole summer to give them an authentic used look. Photo: Åge Hojem
Medieval craft: Archeologists don’t know what type of clothing Tora wore, but they have found remains from the same era. Her dress is based on a discovery in Uvdal in south Norway. Tora’s dress was handmade by Nille Glæsel and dyed with flower pigment using traditional medieval methods.
Photo: Åge Hojem
Finding a name:People were so enamoured with the incredibly life-like guest, but one question kept popping up: what’s her name? The museum teamed up with NRK to let the people choose and provided five names from the era as options (perhaps to avoid a ‘Boaty McBoatface’-type debacle). Which one would you have chosen?
- Ingebjørg
- Sigrid
- Ulvhild
- Tora
- Ragnhild
Underground history: Tora was found in an old graveyard at the end of Kaupmannastretet, Trondheim’s main merchant street during the 13th century. It used to lie about where Krambugata is today in the city center, and Tora was found where the main library is now located. You can visit a recreation of the street on the upper floor of the NTNU University Museum.
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