Scandinavian travelers’ impressions of Greece showcased at Nordic Library

For the Swedish orientalist and Greek philologist Jakob Jonas Bjornstahl - the first known Scandinavian traveler to visit Greece, in 1779 - Thessaly and the Vale of Tempe in the winter felt just like home. And in 1878, Finnish architect, writer and artist Jac Ahrenberg was surprised to find that Athens reminded him of cities back in his own country in many ways.

In 1841, meanwhile, Danish fairy-tale writer Hans Christian Andersen was impressed by the array of goods and colors in the capital's shops and bazaars, by the new palace that was being built using slabs of Pentelic marble and by the university being designed by fellow Dane Christian Hansen.

These fascinating and little-known observations by travelers from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland who explored Greece in the 18th and 19th centuries are the subject of an ongoing exhibition at the Nordic Library in...