“By seeing where we have been,
we can see where we are going.”
What must it have felt like for the first people to set foot in a new world? To step where no one had walked before and know the world lay open ahead?
Thousands of years ago our ancestors laid the first stones of the society we live in today. And although no one can know for certain, it is possible that the feeling they carried in that moment was not so different from what we might feel now.
We all live in the present.
But we know that everything that happens soon becomes the past — whether it is immortalized, forgotten forever, or quietly erased when we are gone. In that way we all live on the edge of an endless wave of memories.
One could imagine that the only lasting things we leave behind are the memories and stories that gain enough strength and value to be passed on from generation to generation. How long our stories will be told is unknown. Change moves faster than ever, and even though we can digitize our memories like never before, they easily drown in the stream of information.
This project was born from a wish to look back with new eyes — to give our ancestors a new voice and lift their stories into a different light.
The way we develop the stories on this site has been in development for a long time and is built on several overlapping methods.
The work begins by collecting good stories from our local communities — everything from oral histories and local history books to land registry documents, postcards, old photographs, paintings and much more. These materials are gathered, dated and mapped. Historical images or paintings often show only one perspective; to create an experience where you can see the full surroundings we therefore need many different sources to help reconstruct a complete picture.
We use a combination of 360 cameras, photogrammetry, point clouds, 3D models and image techniques to create the final experiences.
Our goal is to convey the physical aspects of our history while also enabling others to do the same. Therefore our plan is not only to share the stories themselves, but also the methods behind them. We will publish instructions and example files so more people can create similar experiences. We wish you good luck with your work and hope it can inspire you!
Many of the historical sources we use are of lower graphic quality or lack color. Therefore we cannot always guarantee that the experiences we create exactly match how the past actually looked. In similar media, historical accuracy is often an important topic, and with good reason.
But Fortiden Forteller's aim is not necessarily only to show those sides of history that have clear historical evidence of. Such images and sources can already be found in old photographs and historical archives. What we want is to highlight the aspects of the past that are otherwise not shown.
We try, as far as possible, to be faithful to history. We therefore greatly appreciate if anyone discovers something that seems incorrect in our stories — please get in touch so we can correct it. Such feedback is some of the most useful and exciting input we receive, so do not hesitate to let us know!
Fortiden Forteller is proud of, and grateful for, the collaboration with various local teams and associations that wish to highlight and communicate the values in our history.
In the current projects we can, among others, mention:
National Trust of Norway
Gaular Sogelag
Bygstad Utvikling
All contribute with support and historical knowledge to our work.
We are always looking for new stories to bring forward. Perhaps you know of an event, a place, a person or a local tradition that deserves to be shared with more people? If so, we would very much like to hear from you!
If you have old photos, letters, objects, or simply a good story that has been passed down through your family or village, this is valuable to us. No story is too small — some of the most moving and instructive glimpses of the past come from everyday life and personal memories.
We can help make your story available to others, both on fortidenforteller.no and possibly on your own pages or channels. Together we can help preserve and communicate our rich cultural heritage so it is not lost but can be experienced by new generations.
So do not hesitate to get in touch! Your story can help shape how the future looks back on the past.