Saturday - day 15 - Nuuk, Greenland - part 2

Continuing our visit to Nuuk -- part 1 can be found here: https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/08/saturday-day-15-nuuk-greenland-part-1.html

We found the entrance to the Greenland National Museum and headed in.

An exhibit of a Greenlandic home...

... another room in the home...

... pump organ in the dining room.

Characteristic attire for dog sledding

Information about the farms in Greenland

Depiction of farm layout

Another depiction of farm layout

Depiction of farm layout

Depiction of farm layout

Depiction of farm layout

Information about cattle farming

depiction of cattle farming

Information about cattle farming

Information about cattle farming

Depiction of cattle farming

In the front of the museum was this art piece -- it seemed to have been cut from metal maybe from the side of a ship (it was about 1" thick metal)

Plaque about the art piece in front of the museum

I had read about this art piece online before we went into town -- it is a memorial for Arnarulunnguaq... The English words say "Without you the journey will not end" -- but I used Google translate on the local language and it indicated, "Without you, the journey could not have completed."

The side facing the sea was hard to see because the sun was behind it...

Closer up you can see the carving of the face and a needle

There was not much information at the memorial, but here is some of the information I found online (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnarulunnguaq):

Arnarulunnguaq (AR-nar-oo-LUUNG-oo-ahk); 1896 – 2 October 1933), a Native Greenlander, was a key member of Knud Rasmussen's Fifth Thule Expedition (1921–1924) which crossed the Northwest Passage by dog sled. She was one of the two who accompanied Rasmussen from the Hudson Bay to Alaska, preparing meals and keeping skins and furs in order throughout the two-year journey. As a result, she was the first woman to complete the long Arctic journey from Greenland to the Pacific.

Biography
Early life
Born in Thule in 1896, Arnarulunnguaq (meaning "little girl") was the daughter of the Greenlandic hunter Uumaaq and his wife Aleqasersuaq. After her father died when she was only seven years old, as the youngest child she experienced a difficult childhood, helping to provide for the family.

According to Rasmussen, her family had initially decided to murder her, a practice among the Inuit when resources were insufficient to support everyone: she was required to put a rope around her own neck to show her acquiescence; but her brother Ajako began to cry and her mother decided not to go through with the killing.

Arnarulunnguaq saw this event as a kind of rebirth.

Fifth Thule Expedition
Among the Arctic Inuit chosen by Knud Rasmussen to participate in his Fifth Expedition were the hunter Iggiannguaq and his wife Arnarulunnguaq. Shortly before their departure, Iggiannguaq died of pneumonia but Arnarulunnguaq insisted on continuing, explaining to Rasmussen: "Before it was you who needed me, now it's me who needs you."

After the first stage of the expedition had reached the Hudson Bay, most of the party returned home. Rasmussen, Arnarulunnguaq and her cousin Qaavigarsuaq Miteq, a hunter, continued by dog sled for the next two years, proceeding under extreme conditions over unexplored Arctic territory all the way to the Bering Strait.

Arnarulunnguaq proved to be a vital member of the group; brought up as a hunter's wife and companion, she not only took care of preparing meals but created and maintained skins for clothing and helped build shelters of peat. During the journey, Arnarulunnguaq produced a number of drawings, including detailed images of Inuit women's tattoos.

Summing up her positive influence, Rasmussen tells us that Arnarulunnguaq had "that good humour about her that only a woman can instil [and was as] entertaining and courageous as any man when we were out on our journey."

Later life and death

Rasmussen, Arnarulunnguaq and Miteq, 1924
In late 1924, Rasmussen, Arnarulunnguaq and Miteq embarked on their return journey to Denmark via the United States.

On arriving in Copenhagen, Arnarulunnguaq was diagnosed as suffering from tuberculosis and was hospitalized but she never fully recovered. Rasmussen visited her in hospital, honouring her with the Silver Medal of Merit which she had difficulty accepting, although she was said to deserve it as much as anyone.

In 1925, Arnarulunnguaq returned to Thule where she died on 2 October 1933, aged about 36 or 37.

Legacy
She will appear on a 2028 Danish krone banknote (the krone is also used in Greenland). In 2026, a bacterium isolated from permafrost from the Kap København Formation in Northern Greenland was named after her. 

Isn't that a neat story? 

While near the memorial, we saw a young person out in the water doing spins over in their kayak... upright...

... upside down...

... coming back up. Remember, there are icebergs in that water, so it is *cold*!

We decided to walk on the Nuuk boardwalk to make our way back toward the ship; this was a photo back toward the colonial harbor...

and another picture showing the motorboats that were speeding around -- it was a beautiful Saturday, and it appeared many locals were out enjoying the day, or maybe giving tourists rides.

Back on the ship, leaving Nuuk -- a view back toward the east...

... and one of many icebergs in the water as we were passing some of the islands on our way out to sea.

It was a beautiful day in Nuuk -- the first sunny day we've had in a long time!