When I close my eyes and remember what I saw for several hours -- the
ride Oslo-Stokholm takes about 6 hours -- I see red houses everywhere -- wooden cottages and barns.
And I am not talking about one or two here and there. No. I am talking about hundreds and hundreds of wooden houses with white frames and doors.
There were so many in some towns that you wonder whether the owners face a penalty if they go for, say, a blue house. Heresy! Or maybe it is the opposite: you get a bonus for painting it like the others. It mush be simply mimetic behavior (everyone does and you do it too) and pragmatism (if it works why stop it?)
So I searched online and learned that the houses are called Falun Red (or Falu rödfärg) and the paint originated from teh copper mine at Falum in Sweden. It is supposed to be very effective in preserving the wood and the earliest evidence of its used dates from teh 16th century. (See photo of what the painting looks like courtesy of Wikipedia).
The paint consists of water, rye flour, linseed oil, and tailings from the copper mines. The current recipe was finalized in the 1920s.
Houses and buildings in Scandinavia are normally painted white or yellow. The main reason for the popularity of the red paint was that it was the cheapest, so only the noble buildings of the farm were painted in other colors.
Here is the traditional house where we stayed for the weekend (outside Stockholm)
And I am not talking about one or two here and there. No. I am talking about hundreds and hundreds of wooden houses with white frames and doors.
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| Some are very cute because they have grass on the roof... |
There were so many in some towns that you wonder whether the owners face a penalty if they go for, say, a blue house. Heresy! Or maybe it is the opposite: you get a bonus for painting it like the others. It mush be simply mimetic behavior (everyone does and you do it too) and pragmatism (if it works why stop it?)
So I searched online and learned that the houses are called Falun Red (or Falu rödfärg) and the paint originated from teh copper mine at Falum in Sweden. It is supposed to be very effective in preserving the wood and the earliest evidence of its used dates from teh 16th century. (See photo of what the painting looks like courtesy of Wikipedia).
Houses and buildings in Scandinavia are normally painted white or yellow. The main reason for the popularity of the red paint was that it was the cheapest, so only the noble buildings of the farm were painted in other colors.
Here is the traditional house where we stayed for the weekend (outside Stockholm)
