Beautiful embroidery. A folk costume blouse (female) from Sauherad, Telemark, Norway. From before 1879 - made from linen and wool. | Photo: Anne-Lise Reinsfelt Norsk Folkemuseum - digitaltmuseum.no NF.1992-2490 - cc by-sa.

Vintage photos | the folk costumes | Norway

Some vintage photos - and more to come.

A folk costume blouse

Beautiful embroidery. A folk costume blouse (female) from Sauherad, Telemark, Norway. From before 1879 – made from linen and wool.

Photo: Anne-Lise Reinsfelt Norsk Folkemuseum – digitaltmuseum.no NF.1992-2490 – cc by-sa.

On their way to church

Four girls in their folk costumes from Setesdal. The photo is hand-coloured and taken in 1934 – somewhere in Aust-Agder, Norway.

Photo: Anders Beer Wilse – digitaltmuseum.no DEX_W_00067 – cc by.

Norwegian folk costume from Setesdal, Agder

Mouth-harp-maker and musician Mikkjel Kåvenes (1872-1939), posing in his folk costume from Setesdal, Agder, Norway in 1934. Hand-coloured photo.

Photo: Anders Beer Wilse – digitaltmuseum.no DEX_W_00232 – CC BY.

LA Dahlmann | vintage photos

Homestead | making butter the old way | Norway

homestead and farm

For the old Norwegians, making butter was simply a way of preserving the fresh summer milk – turning it into a type of food that could be stored.

Norwegian history | the Early modern period | Norway

history timeline

In the year AD 1537, King Christian 3 of Denmark-Norway embraced the Lutheran Reformation, and the Norwegians went from being Catholics to Protestants. The king confiscated the Catholic Church’s considerable wealth, a welcomed addition to the royal coffers. Norway more or less ceased to exist as a sovereign state and became a province under Denmark.

Homestead | the old farm and the need for water | Norway

homestead and farm

The old Norwegian farm needed hundreds of litres of water every single day: for food-making, cleaning, and human and animal consumption.

Vintage photos | the people | Norway

vintage photos

Here is a collection of some wonderful vintage photos, showing a handful of Norwegians and their lives.

Queen Maud of Norway | her background and childhood years

norwegian royal history

Queen Maud of Norway was born in London in 1869, as Princess Maud of Wales. Her grandmother was none other than the formidable Queen Victoria.

Ice export | a booming business for more than a century | Norway

landscape

From the early 1800s and well into the 1900s, Norway was a significant exporter of natural ice. But how did they prevent the ice from melting?

Norway | on the coastal path along the Oslofjord

landscape

Whether it be on a rainy day – or a beautiful summer’s day like this one – the coastal paths take us through some pleasing stretches of Norwegian scenery.

Norway | a land of water

landscape

In the spring, the Norwegian mountain-snow melts and turns into creeks, rivers and magnificent waterfalls.

Fjords | gateways to mystery | Norway

landscape

Once upon a time in the distant past, imagine yourself sitting in a small boat, facing this mighty gateway into the bowels of the land.

Norwegian Buhund | viking dog with an ancient history | Norway

domesticated animals

The first Norwegian Buhund breed-standard came in 1926, based on a dog that had evolved, lived, and worked with the Norwegians since time immemorial.

Horse history in the land of the Vikings vol 2 | Norway

domesticated animals

The horse no longer roams wild in the Norwegian landscape. But it still has an important place in the Norwegian psyche.

Reindeer | an ancient presence in the Norwegian mountains

wild animals

When the ice melted after the last ice age, herds of reindeer followed in its wake. And with the animals came their main predator: the humans.

Horse history in the land of the Vikings vol 1 | Norway

domesticated animals

The horse settled in the Scandinavian landscape after the last ice age. Let us meet this majestic animal – and follow in its footsteps.

Food history | the beginning | Norway

food history

When humankind first appeared in the Norwegian landscape – sometime after the last ice age – the search for food was their primary motivation.

Food history | the «Viking pizza» | Norway

food history

In Norway, the pizza appeared as an exotic newcomer in the 1970s. But bread topped with foodstuffs is nothing new in Norwegian food history.

Ostehøvel | the Norwegian cheese slicer | Norway

food history

There are many types of cheese slicers, but Norwegian furniture maker Thor Bjørklund invented the Norwegian version in 1925.

Food history | milk from the domesticated animals | Norway

food history

For thousands of years, milk from the domesticated animals has had a dominant position in the Norwegian diet. People used milk from the cow, the reindeer, the sheep and the goat.

Bergen | historical city once plundered by pirates | Norway

towns and cities

Bergen is Norway’s second-largest city and one of the country’s oldest urban locations. The first post-viking king, Olav Kyrre, gave it market-town-status around AD 1070.