Lögberg-Heimskringla - 04.10.1996, Page 1

Inside this week:
HeimsKringia
The lcelandic Weekly
Lögberg Stofnað 14. januar 1888 Heimskringla Stofnað 9, september 1886
President's Pen...........................3
The Saga ot Two Large Rocks...............3
Forging the lcelandic Character...........4
National Library receives 350 Books......7
HOArgangur Föstudagur 27, október 1996 Numer34
110th Year Publications Mail Registration No. 1667 Friday, 4 October, 1996 ^ Number 34
I C E L A N D I C
N E W S
Japanese Women
For Equal Rights
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, former
President of Iceland, recently
met with a delegation of
Japanese women from Saitama
Province, Japan, who arrived in
Iceland to familiarize themselves with
the status of women in Icelandic
society and the Icelandic Women’s
Rights Organization. Vigdís Finn-
bogadóttir is well known to the
Japanese women who met her last
April when she addressed an
International Women’s Conference in
Saitama Province at the invitation of
the provincial government. The
delegation is touring western
countries and arrived here from
Finland. Among the delegates are
members of the provincial govern-
ment and representatives of various
organizations and women’s leagues.
The Icelandic Women’s Rights
Organization held a reception for the
delegates at Hallveigarstadir. They
will also visit Alþing and the
Departments of Education and the
Environment.
Medical Study in
lceland
The USA Health Organiza-
tion—The National Institute
of Health, recently issued a
two million dollar grant to study epi-
lepsy and related illnesses with sei-
zures, in Iceland. The study is a co-
operative project with both Icelandic
and American doctors taking part. Be-
tween 1,500 to 2,000 Icelanders have
epilepsy and there are between 110 to
120 new cases diagnosed every year.
Continued on page 2
Petursson House
Reveals Treasures
By Trish Masniuk
Amajestic brick home featuring
16-foot Tyndallstone pillars
soaring to a third-floor balcony,
a 600 square-foot ballroom, seven bay
windows, three fireplaces, walls covered
with oak panelling and elaborately em-
bossed Lincrusta stands in the heart of
the West End on 616 Alverstone Street.
The pair of round Tyndallstone col-
umns are rare indeed for a Winnipeg resi-
dence. These columns are now supported
and stabilized by scaffolding, and the
balcony will be rebuilt according to the
original design.
Built in 1914 by a prosperous Icelan-
dic hardware merchant, Bjorn Petursson,
the house remained in the original fam-
ily until 1942. Bjom Petursson’s brother
Ragnvaldur, who graduated from Harvard
Divinity School in 1902, served as the min-
ister at the Unitarian Church, first located
at Sargent and Nena (now Sherbrook).
Bjorn Petursson, owner of 616
Alverstone, 1914-42
The church’s records keeper, Fridrik
Sveinsson, gained renown as a commer-
cial artist for his murals and stage sets.
He designed the 1904 Unitarian church
at Sargent and Nena and created its stain
glass windows, which were moved in
1920 to Ragnvaldur’s new church at Ban-
ning and Sargent.
In 1912, Sveinsson moved to a new
house at 626 Alverstone, where his
household briefly included his son-
in-law, Charles Thorson, later an
animator who helped create Snow White,
the Seven Dwarfs, Bugs Bunny, and
Elmer Fudd. According to Gene Walz, an
English professor at tlie University of
Manitoba, Sveinsson painted murals of
Icelandic landscapes and legends in
Bjom’s house at 616 Alverstone; other
artists may have also contributed to the
artwork, particularly the goddesses in the
dining room.
Sveinsson had a lifelong zest for
church and community. Bjorn’s young-
est daughter, Margaret, recalls carrying
hand-painted signboards to the Mac’s
Theatre (now Cinema 3) with Sveins-
son’s grandson, Eddie, so they could get
Continued on page 2