After the Curtain
September 7, 2010 § 7 Comments
Medical Photography Section , University of Oslo © All rights reserved.
This photo of an operating theatre at Rikshospitalet national hospital ca. 1900 is one of my absolute favorites from our archives. Even though the lights are out and the room empty, there’s an intense atmosphere to it. You can almost see the surgeons and the eager students. The light falling on the wall, the wet floor and the wheeled table that’s slightly out of balance with the rest of the room. Very dramatic.
Wish I had more details about it, but even the photographer is unknown.
The Sterile Eye 
Really awesome photo, thank you for sharing! I like the tones, I wonder which full-frame-sensor dSLR the photographer shot it with..I bet they were using an IS lens for the low-light situat….oh wait, 1900. Hmm. So wait..that means..film? Hmm. ;)
So do you simply get to peruse the archives at will? That kinda makes me want to work at an old hospital, haha.
Best
David
Actually, it was most likely shot on a glass negative. Although I have only found reproductions of this photo, most of the photos from the same era were shot on glass here at the hospital.
As head of the Photographic Services I’m also the manager of the photo archives, so yes, I get to peruse all I want :) I believe some of these historic photos definitely deserve a wide audience.
It’s a wonderful photo!
Is it possible to link the photo to a larger version? I’d like to see this bigger. It’s an intriguing photograph.
I’m sorry, but due to the copyright I can not put up a larger version here now.
We are however working on making our archives available to the public in some way in the near future.
Oystein, you have chosen well. I am sure there are many great photos in the archives but this is perfect for heading into winter… so eerily solitary and still- like after a snow storm.
A link to a larger version on Flickr have now been added. Click on the photo to open.