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As you drive north on E6 from Trøndelag to Nordland, you pass an arch with the northern lights on the county border.
In a different year like 2020, in which nine out of ten chose the car this summer and turned their nose north, many Norwegians on vacation have driven under the arch this year.
The popular monument “The Northern Gate of Norway” is the first encounter of the people with the region.
Associate Professor Erlend Bullvåg from the Nord University Business School is now speaking out to break down the door. He tells Avisa Nordland that it is time for the door to be level with the ground. Both physically and symbolically.
Erlend Bullvåg is Dean of the Nord University Business School.
Photo: Nord University
– There is no reason to have a gate to a region. Because a gate says something about you crossing a border here and that you can expect more than on the other side, Bullvåg tells NRK.
He believes that the door as a tourist product attracts attention, but that it represents much more than that and is stigmatizing.
Aerial photo from a helicopter over the North Gate of Norway at Grane in Helgeland
It won’t be different
– The problem is that it symbolizes something different, a part of the country that is far away. But we are an important part of Norway and that should be, to a greater extent, the starting point.
Bullvåg believes that the door belongs to the past.
Should I demolish Norway’s North Gate?
– It was once established as a contribution to tourism to shape Northern Norway. But then the world has moved on and we have received signals from our inhabitants that a normalization of the role of the region in Norway is needed, he tells NRK.
He says he is aware that there are other “doors” across the country.
– But the difference is that they obviously represent tourism, while here there is a door on the border to an entire region. And I think that’s stigmatizing, says Erlend Bullvåg.
– Unique region with unique opportunities
Regional Director Daniel Bjarmann-Simonsen at NHO says he understands Bullvåg’s message.
But Bjarmann-Simonsen won’t break down the door. I’d rather turn it into something positive.
– This is a unique part of the country with unique opportunities, so it can also be positive to have a symbol that shows that you have now come to northern Norway, he tells NRK.
If Daniel Bjarmann-Simonsen had been a teacher, he would have said “LET’S STAND UP” on his board. Because the NHO regional director doesn’t think the gate should be demolished.
Photograph: Malin Nygård Solberg / NRK
He says he doesn’t feel the old stigma that there may have been more before.
– I think the region exudes self-confidence and the will to create something. From what I have seen, there will be few who support the symbolic action that will be.
– Bullvåg can only buy it and take it down
Previously, “The Gate to Northern Norway” was owned by the municipality of Grane. In 2013, brothers Lars Jonas and Jan-Michael Westerfjell bought the gate and buildings for 200,000 crowns.
Every year around 50,000 people visit the tourist attraction, which also has a picnic area, sanitary facilities and a souvenir shop and summer kiosk.
Westerfjell reacts to Erlend Bullvåg’s wish to demolish “The Gateway to Northern Norway”. But he agrees that marking the entrance to a region can symbolize that something is different.
– All parts of the country, counties, municipalities and companies try to cultivate their uniqueness. Being different from others can bring competitive advantages. The healthy distance between south and north will be present regardless of this portal.
– Does Bullvåg know it’s for sale? You can buy it and tear it down if you want.
On social media, there are hundreds of images of people proudly displaying the door, be they from the region or tourists on their way to northern Norway.
– The door is important to us as a draw. It’s a natural stop with such a portal, as opposed to a roadside sign, says Westerfjell.
