For thousands of years survival in Norway’s countryside, where farms were miles from each other, meant complete self-sufficiency. Farmsteads were like small villages with several families living together and building their homes from logs and turf.
At Oslo’s Norwegian Folk Museum, entire farmsteads have been transplanted log-by-log by master carpenters who use traditional joinery techniques and knowledge of birch-bark roofs – a combination of birch bark and sod used since at least 300AD.
These mini-villages also include elevated storehouses for food and textiles, as well as barns and saunas (not just for recreation, but also for laundry). This open air museum has 160 buildings (mostly originals with a few reproductions), including one of the world’s remaining stave churches dating back to 1200.
The centuries-old wood is preserved by a traditional tarring method applied every 4 years. There are also several city streets of “Old Town” Oslo with townhouses dating back to about 1700 and 19th and 20th Century interiors. Open Air Museum: norskfolkemuseum
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