Never let it be said that the Middle Ages were a dark time...

The theory behind this was established experimentally by a Ghent University archaeologist in his master's thesis. To do so, he headed to the Bokrijk Open Air Museum.
In any film or TV series set in the Middle Ages, you are often immersed in very dark home interiors. Archaeologist Natan Heidbüchel of Ghent University wanted to know if it was really that dark back then.
To reconstruct the precise lighting conditions of the time, Natan unravelled historical sources and studied paintings. Using the information he obtained, the end of a flax rope and beeswax or tallow melted over a fire, he recreated medieval-style candles. The smoke that came with them was all part of the experiment. Natan thought that the urban quarter with its 15th and 16th-century buildings and facades from the centre of Antwerp in Bokrijk would provide the appropriate setting. And the people of Bokrijk were delighted to see him. He took every aspect into account and tested everything: the stained glass windows, the windows with oiled linen, opening and closing shutters, the weather, the position of the sun... And it turns out that the measured brightness was actually sufficient to allow the average late medievalist to carry out his daily crafts, during the day but also in the evening, without going blind from the effort. By the way, in addition to candles, he also used oil lamps and bog oak chips to create additional light.
In professional circles, Natan Heidbüchel's experiment was rewarded with an archaeology award and mention in a leading journal.