this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2026
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Film Photography
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That's an interesting piece of trivia. IIRC this nook is in the ladies common chamber, meaning light was required for chores that were common at the time (embroidery, knitting etc.). The best corner rooms in terms of getting light for as long as possible were usually reserved for scribes though, the scribes chamber was in the southwestern corner which is well lit for most of the day. Especially important in Finland with the short days in winter.
It's difficult to realize how few real solutions we had for artificial lighting back in the day. Even candles were a luxury just a couple hundred years ago, and required constant attention to trim the wicks. Oil lamps were smelly, beeswax and tallow melted too easily and availability was limited. The common folk here in Finland used small wooden shingles for lighting, which burned out relatively quickly and created a fire hazard. It also smoked a lot, and you had to use a bucket to catch the hot embers that dropped off as it burned.