Rediscovered

Aksel Waldemar Johannessen died in 1922. After a retrospective in 1923 the canvasses were packed, stored and promptly forgotten. Rediscovered and exhibited in 1992. Link…

Molluscs

From the Biodiversity Heritage Library - Maria Emma Gray (1787-1876). Conchologist and algologist. Link…

Troll Gas

Troll A is the tallest structure ever moved by humans over the surface of the Earth. [Huge pictures] Link…

Ice from Norway to Britain

19th Century London wanted ice in far greater quantities than the British climate provided. Whilst ice was gathered from lakes, and indeed from the Regent's Canal, and was stored, the amount of ice available was small and its quality often poor. Ice started to be imported from the United States in the 1840's, with the Wenham Lake Ice Company as one of the most famous names in the business. Carlo Gatti brought his first consignment of ice from Norway to London in 1857, of 400 tons, and one of the two ice wells at 12-13 New Wharf Road was almost certainly dug to receive it and store it until it was wanted by customers. Customers wanted ice for food preservation, for making ice cream, and for medical use. In the last 40 years of the century Norwegian ice dominated the market in London. Link…

Norwegian Stave Churches

Boat construction and home building in the Viking times had developed the technique and tradition of combining art with wood working. This culminated in the stave churches. There are several types of stave churches but the common element to all of them is that they have corner-posts (�staves�) and a skeleton or framework of timber with wall planks standing on sills. Link…