This Photo Friday I want to bring you this image I shot in Oslo. I find it interesting for two reasons. First, I love the color. Second, notice the date prominently marked on the building? “Anno 1641.” We saw large dates like this marking many buildings in Norway, celebrating their age and heritage. The building has obviously been cared for and restored, perhaps several times.

In America, we chase the new and sparkling. Little is preserved. But, there is a seriousness about life, and a sense of our belonging to history ourselves that is lost by neglecting the old.</em.

Don't you think?

Incidentally, here’s a few significant dates to give this building a bit of historical context.

1605: Don Quixote, the first modern novel is published.
1610: Galileo observes Jupiter’s moons through his telescope.
1611: The King James Version (KJV) of the Bible is published.
1620: The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock in the new world.
1641: The building in this photo is built.
1643: The Taj Mahal is completed.
1646: The Westminster Confession of Faith is first published.
1667: Milton writes Paradise Lost.