After an overwhelmingly successful fund-raising campaign to finance costs, a phallic-shaped rock that was cut down by vandals in June has risen again in the hills of southwestern Norway.
The rock called Trollpikken (literally, The Troll Cock) was hoisted back into place through an elaborate repair operation involving scaffolding, a crane and bolts. The rock proved to be too heavy for a helicopter to raise it back into position.
Sverre Garpestad, who led the effort, was among those celebrating that they got the rock up again. “Now we can take the weekend off and say that the rock is back in place,” Garpestad told state broadcaster NRK. “It’s a fine feeling, and we’re cheering down here. We succeeded with a difficult job that many didn’t think would be possible.”
The workers still need to carry out more work to secure the rock, and clean up after themselves. NRK reported that the hoisting job was conducted with “millimeter precision.”
It will still take a while before the rigging and scaffolding can be removed. Iron rods, glue and cement are still needed to hold the phallic rock in place. It will also take at least another week before visitors trekking to the site in Eigersund can stand on Trollpikken.
newsinenglish.no staff