Esbjerg Exhibition

	The Town Esbjerg Museum is trying to present a picture of the urban environment from around 1900 to 1950. During this period Esbjerg has developed into a major town, though it still has close links with the harbour. Around the square, Torvet, we can see examples of the town’s houses – a small house from the settlers’ period and facades from the 1890’s. Here there is a reconstruction of a kiosk, which stood on Esbjerg Torv from 1910 to 1928. There are the more refined high street shops: the goldsmith’s shop from 1908 and the fashion shop from 1925. But there are also some of the everyday shops: The small grocer’s shop on the corner (around 1938-1950), the hairdresser’s (around 1930-1950) and the watchmaker’s (workshop from 1931). Behind the fashion shop, a dental clinic from 1943 has been set up, and a tailor sits on his worktable (1930’s) in the attic above the grocer’s.
	The Harbour The harbour was the heart of the town. At the England Quay bacon, eggs and butter for England are being loaded. Other typical places of work at the harbour are also exhibited: the fish auction hall from 1924, the old fashioned pickling of herring and the modern cannery (1919), as well as one of the many harbour workshops that helped to motorize the fishing fleet after 1910.
	The Flats The ”1st floor” comprises two typical Esbjerg flats from around 1925.  One is a two-room flat above the grocer’s in which a trained joiner, his wife and 3-4 children would have lived since around 1910. Being workers, they are members of the trade union and the Social Democratic Party – and they are total abstainers. The flat is neat and tidy, but there is not much space in the three rooms: kitchen, living room and bedroom. We imagine that they live on the 1st or 2nd floor in a block of flats with a toilet and a washhouse in the yard.
	At the back you enter the large flat of a director. It includes a maid’s room and a toilet (luxury for the few!). The museum has chosen to display two of the director’s many rooms: the study with its comfortable sofas and chairs, and the office. We imagine that the director owns or manages a butter packing plant and that his family lives next door to the company. Most of the doors, windows, floors and ceilings in the two flats have been taken from the old houses that have been demolished. Parts of the wallpaper have been reprinted from old patterns.