Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - II. The Swedish People - 3. National Character and Social Conditions. Introd. by [G. Sundbärg] J. Asproth - Dwellings. By [G. Sundbärg] Carl G. Bergsten
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178
II. THE SWEDISH PEOPLE.
a more pretentious structure, usually of the villa type. The traditional
red colour (with or without the white corners) so characteristic of the
Swedish wooden buildings, a lasting colour, of picturesque effect in the
landscape, is being replaced by vague oil-colour tints; the time-honoured
roofing materials, peat, shingles, and the good old tiles give place to iron
plate and asphalt pasteboard, and the old wooden facing of rough boards
is exchanged for planed "beading" (perlspont). But people are
beginning to realize now after only twenty years experience that the modern plate
roof, which rusts in the course of a generation, was but a sorry substitute
for the tile roof, which would doubtless have lasted a century, and the
same is the case with "beading". This dearly-purchased experience in
conjunction with the systematic education of the public has, however,
resulted in a tendency to revert to the building methods of former ages,
to hark back to the times previous to the rise of industrialism,
combining-the old style with modern improvements as regards sun and air,
convenience, warming, and so forth.
The relation of the building to its natural surroundings, which at one
time was severely menaced by the erection of the dreadful "pattern"
houses, seems to be once more coming to its due.
In former times houses were warmed by large open fire-places with log fires,
which, however, only heated the rooms as long as the fire was burning. At a
later period these fire-places were eked out by cast-iron stoves, called
biläggar-ugn, into which the embers of the log fire were thrown. In more recent times
the open fire-places were supplied with air-circulation channels. At the present
day earthenware stoves (haJcelugn) are in general use.
Almost half the number of Swedish totons date their existence from the
Middle Ages; as to the remainder, most of them arose between the 16th
century and the end of the 18th (the majority in the 17th), and some ten
or so belong to the 19th century.
The only town in Sweden which has preserved its mediæval aspect
quite intact is Visby, with its numerous picturesque ruins. Another relic
from that epoch is the old "City" of Stockholm, which is mediaeval at any
rate in plan. Reminiscences of the Middle Ages occur pretty copiously
in the towns of Skåne, somewhat more sparsely in other southern
provinces and in central Sweden, but are almost entirely lacking in the north.
The 16th century has, with a few exceptions, left but little mark on the
Swedish towns; but reminiscences abound in them from the 17th and 18th
centuries, particularly the former. This is true especially of Stockholm.
However, broadly speaking, both the capital and the majority of
provincial towns have a predominantly modern character. Buildings of the
19th century are the rule, those of preceding centuries the exception. This
circumstance cannot be explained merely by the ravages af war and fire
(befriended by the preponderance of wooden buildings); it is also largely
clue to the violent lust of "modernization" which appeared simultaneously
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