Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Old Pictures of Norway

We came across this collection of old Photochrom pictures of Norway, Denmark and Sweden the other day. Photochrom was an early method for colorizing photographs, popular between the 1890s and 1910. Scanned and posted by the Library of Congress, the collection provides an interesting reminder of Norway’s enduring natural beauty as well as the dramatic changes the country has seen in just over 100 years.

This picture of Ålesund is interesting because it shows how the city looked before the 1904 fire that would profoundly change the city. There are also several images of Bergen. This one, a standard view of central Bergen from Fjellveien, looks remarkably similar to how it looks today with the notable exception that the bay (Vågen) is packed with what look like fishing boats. This view of Lille Lungegårdsvannet (a small lake in central Bergen) shows the canal that once connected it to Store Lungegårdsvannet that was closed in 1926. Here’s what it looks like today.

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