From far back in time, the open fire has been the focal centre of the house, giving light and heat and, more than anything, symbolizing the security of the home.

Lamp

Up until the end of the 18th century, lighting in the home came from an unprotected flame, such as tallow and wax candles and simple oil lamps. Lacking good lighting indoors, most of the work and daily life took place outdoors following the rhythm of day and night. This influenced both practical daily life and people’s world view.

From the 1780s, there were experiments in constructing lamps that gave better light,  based on refined rape oil. The paraffin lamp was constructed in 1855. Following the discovery of large amounts of mineral oil in Pennsylvania in the USA in 1859, this new lamp had its breakthrough and revolutionized household lighting.

Thomas Alva Edison patented the electric incandescent lamp in 1879, but it was only after 1900 that electric light came into ordinary use in the homes in Kristiania (Oslo). In 1917, 75% of the city’s homes had electricity.

Stove

In cold winter Norway, there has always been a need for effective heat sources that are as energy efficient as possible. Closed iron stoves were produced here from the beginning of the 1600s and gradually replaced the open hearth and the open fireplace.

Stoves fuelled by wood and coke came on the market after 1850. Coke, a by-product of coal-based gas production, was introduced as a reasonable and efficient fuel for the home. Paraffin stoves were also taken into use.

Coke could, in addition, be used as fuel in central heating plants for heating detached houses or apartment buildings. Such plants were taken into use from the beginning of the 1900s and became usual in new buildings from the end of the 1920s. After the World War II, coke was to a greater degree replaced by fuel oil and paraffin.

Portable electric heaters have been used as additional heating from the early 1900s. It was only in the second half of the century that many homes became completely based on electric heating, especially electric wall heaters.


Comfort

 

Lamp, ca. 1900

Better lighting made home life more comfortable, but also raised the demands for cleanliness. Dirt became simply more visible.

With better lighting, reading ability also increased. This was a premise for general education.A saying states that “when electric lighting entered the home, the last “little people” went up the chimney”.

Throughout human history, the open fire has given warmth, light and a feeling of safety. In the course of the 20th century it was replaced by a new invisible form of energy – electricity.The open fire in open fireplaces and candles are still to be found in homes, but the fire is transformed from cessity to cosiness.