FAR19.1: Mentunarnáttin (Part One)

Week 19 of my time in the Faroes was, without a doubt, the most physically exhausting time I think I’ve ever had. Two days running I was working until 2am and getting up at 4am (yes, just two hours later). And I had to do a lot of walking (ruining three pairs of socks). I haven’t known a physical or mental tiredness like it, but thankfully, it has also been an unbelievably productive week. All the same, Friday came and I needed to relax somehow. And coincidence of coincidences, Friday also happened to be Mentunarnáttin in Tórshavn – ultimately not relaxing in the least, but really, really good fun.
I could be mistaken, but I’m guessing that the Faroese Mentunarnátt (‘Culture Night’) is taken from the Kulturnatt in Copenhagen, something I’ve never been to, but apparently it’s quite an event. Here, all the shops in the centre of town were open until 11pm, various shows and displays were put on, entry to museums and galleries was free, there was live music at various venues across the town, and gardens, etc. that are usually not open to the public were free to walk around.

I picked up my Mentunarnátt leaflet with all the events displayed, and worked out what I was going to check out. Most events weren’t until the evening, but I decided to be REALLY cultural and go to the Faroese National Art Gallery, Listasavn Føroya. I have never been to an art gallery in my life, not even the TATE or anything like that, and I felt mighty proud of myself as I strolled through the park to the gallery, not entirely sure I would know how to appreciate the art when I got there.
I had to make it look like I wasn’t only there because it was free: ‘Really? It’s free today? That’s a nice surprise!’ I don’t know why I had to do that, but I just needed the guy behind the counter to know that I’m very into culture and art and all things cultural and arty. I wasn’t allowed to take any photos in there, so I can’t show you anything, but it was actually pretty interesting. Some of it I didn’t get and some I could have done better myself, but there are/were certainly some very talented artists in the Faroes. Are you impressed with me? I think you should be.

From the National Gallery I headed to downtown Tórshavn, armed with my list of things to do and the times to do them.
An unusual sight: the open gate of the Danish Representative’s Residence, enabling us all to look around the gardens – an experience which took all of ten seconds, but all the same, if a gate’s nearly always closed, you’re going to go in there and have a look when it’s open.

Sitting down by the quayside, Tórshavn Town Band (Havnar Hornorkestur) came marching down the road, followed by a mass of people. I met up with some friends and we walked further along the quay to a pretty weird, but somewhat cool, event.
The Faroese population is (from what I understand, but it’s a topic I avoid, because it's none of my business) roughly divided in half as far as calls for independence are concerned. The Faroese rock band 200 is well-known for being very pro-independence, but on this night, they decided they were going to award their own ‘Knight’s Cross’ to two unionists who they considered cool – even though they didn’t agree with them, it should be acknowledged that these particular unionists had destroyed all the stereotypes of unionists, and should be recognised accordingly as ‘coolir sambandsmenn’ (‘cool unionists’). A bit of a bizarre event, but there were loads of people there.
One of my friends happens to be related to one of the cool unionists, so I was able to get this picture of the ‘Knight’s Cross’ itself:

But the best part of the night was still to come...