What’s behind doors and windows? In Hobbiton, New Zealand, that’s a trick question!
© Joyce McGreevy

A Cross-Cultural Tour of Doors and Windows Around the World

With more than 12 million posts and counting, doors and windows around the world are among the most shared objects on Instagram. Clearly, doors can be adorable and windows wonderful. But beyond pretty pictures, what cross-cultural stories do doors and windows tell?

In Lismore, Ireland, a medieval window has been silent witness to both
Sir Walter Raleigh and John F. Kennedy.
© Joyce McGreevy

In Zagreb, Croatia, a post-Civil War window showcases the city’s renaissance.
© Joyce McGreevy

When Is a Door Ajar?

Doors can seem ordinary; their job, after all, is to hang around the house. But doors are also sentinels between opposite worlds:  the private and the public, the inside and the outside, the secular and the sacred.

Some doors are instantly recognizable even if one has never stood before them. The door at 10 Downing Street, London (despite numerous replacements since 1735). The circular doors of Hobbiton  (located in Middle Earth or on a movie set, depending on your level of devotion to Lord of the Rings). 

Other doors make you slow your step and wonder, “Now what’s in here?”

In Plovdiv, Bulgaria, butterflies, flowers, and a glimpse of snail mail
turn an ordinary door into visual poetry.
© Joyce McGreevy

Some ancient doors, like the imun of Changdeokgung Palace, declared one’s status. An imun is a set of double doors, but of different heights.  In 15th century Korea, only royalty could walk through the taller door.

Some doors are false doors, carved in stone on Egyptian tombs and temples. They can only be passed through in the afterlife.

Doors can have the blues.  From the Cycladic islands of Greece to the high deserts of New Mexico, blue doors project complex layers of cultural symbolism, protective yet calm,  local yet ethereal.

Clockwise: From Greece to New Mexico, Norway to New Zealand, blue doors enchant us.
© Joyce McGreevy

Doors can be downright contrary with signs like, “This door to remain closed and locked at all times.” At ALL times? But what if we need to—oh, never mind. We’ll just climb out through the window.

At Keleti Train Station, Budapest, windows evoke grand visions of travel.
© Joyce McGreevy

Open Your Wind-Eyes

The origin of the word windows is a doorway into poetry. It comes from Old Norse and Frisian phrases that mean “wind-eye” and “breath-door.” Contained in those words is the history of the window, from unglazed hole in the roof, a way to draw breath into your body, to grand portal, a way to inspire, or “draw spirit into” your soul.

Oh, I see: The most basic objects can be storehouses of cultural history.

A former home in Siletz Bay Wildlife Refuge Center, Oregon opens the door to nature.
© Carolyn McGreevy

Breaking (or Bricking) Glass

Ever heard the expression “daylight robbery”? In the late 1600s, new technology was making it easier to produce glass windows. Soon windows were opening up a whole new world for homeowners.

English King William III saw this as his window of opportunity.

In 1696, he levied a window tax. The more glass windows one had, the more tax one paid, with rates increasing exponentially. Some people registered their protests— and avoided the higher rate—by bricking up a strategic number of windows.

What would King William III have thought of this window-wall in Copenhagen? 
© Joyce McGreevy

These Cross-Cultural Traditions Hinge on Doors

• In the Chinese custom of men shén, images of the Door Gods Shen Shu and Yu Lei are displayed on doors as guardians of all within.
• Some door customs come with door prizes. In Finland, the custom was for brides to go door-to-door collecting wedding gifts in a pillowcase.
• In Poland, if you can’t find something in your house, go to the nearest closed door and speak through it to the Skrzaty, friendly elves who live in nooks and crannies.
• Skeptical? Next time you lose your reading glasses, tell the Skrzaty, “Play and put away!” Then prepare to be amazed when you find your specs right on top of your head.

Windows in Bend, Oregon keep winter outside.
© Joyce McGreevy

Windows in Evanston, Illinois invite summer inside. 
©Joyce McGreevy

Word Windows, Discovery Doors

Doors and windows give us many cross-cultural idioms and sayings.

• In Turkey, “Kind words unlock an iron door” and “Create a window from one heart to another.”
• In China, “Teachers open the door; you enter by yourself,” and “Learning a language is like having another window from which to see the world.”
• In France,  “Everyone sees noon from his own door” (Chacun voit midi à sa porte). We each have our own perspective, our personal window on life.
• Speaking of unique perspective, an early “life hack” from my own Irish culture reminds us, “Never bolt your door with a boiled carrot.” Especially if you’ve buttered it.

In the Ireland of my youth a knock at the door meant
“Sounds like visitors. Put the kettle on!” 
© Joyce McGreevy

In Closing, Stay Open

Doors and windows can open up new worlds, or reframe and transform a world we thought we knew. As you close the door on this modest cross-cultural tour, hold fast to the key of observation.  For doors and windows around the world have stories to tell and wonders to reveal.

In Oslo, Norway, windows bring the light of hope when the world seems dark. 
© Joyce McGreevy

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