During my travels, I get to know a city by walking its streets, meeting its people, and trying to “live like a local.” Also, I see its museums – not only the great collections of artwork and paintings, but the small “city” museums that display collections of common items of the time grouped together in recreations of home “scenes”1 from centuries past. The following video2 shows what I gleaned from my stay in Oslo, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. It’s a mix of modern city life, (sidewalks, shopping, restaurants, riding bicycles and trolley cars,) and museum depictions of citizens (farmers, fishermen, society, and suburban cottage folk, to name a few) who lived there in the past.
Most memorable artwork has a time quality of style, subject matter, or material that can define an age. In the same way, items we buy, use, or create today also define an age and may become candidates for museums in the future. Live life like it is priceless — one day it might be so!
Footnotes
- Furniture, decorations, dress, et cetera, even items such as tea sets
- “Scandinavia Through the Ages,” dxlcarson.com 2025, Music (“Nocturne”) and Photography by Port Spud Studio 2025