UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Sweden

UNESCO's Description

The Royal Domain of Drottningholm stands on an island in Lake Mälar in a suburb of Stockholm. With its castle, perfectly preserved theatre (built in 1766), Chinese pavilion and gardens, it is the finest example of an 18th-century north European royal residence inspired by the Palace of Versailles.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

The name Drottningholm (literally meaning "Queen's islet") came from the original renaissance building designed by Willem Boy, a stone palace built by John III of Sweden in 1580 for his queen, Catherine Jagiellon. This palace was preceded by a royal mansion called Torvesund.

The Queen Dowager Regent Hedwig Eleonora bought the castle throughout 1661, a year after her role as queen of Sweden ended, but it burnt to the ground on 30 December that same year. Hedwig Eleonora engaged the architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder to design and rebuild the castle. In 1662, work began on the reconstruction of the building. With the castle almost complete, Tessin died in 1681. His son Nicodemus Tessin the Younger continued his work and completed the elaborate interior designs.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q208559 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

The Birka archaeological site is located on Björkö Island in Lake Mälar and was occupied in the 9th and 10th centuries. Hovgården is situated on the neighbouring island of Adelsö. Together, they make up an archaeological complex which illustrates the elaborate trading networks of Viking-Age Europe and their influence on the subsequent history of Scandinavia. Birka was also important as the site of the first Christian congregation in Sweden, founded in 831 by St Ansgar.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

The earliest evidence of human activity in the area is a cemetery northwest of Hovgården, which appears to have been in use between approximately 600 and 1100. On Grönsö, which was a separate island during this period, Bronze Age cairns have also been identified. The proto-city of Birka and the adjacent royal estate of Hovgården were established in the 8th century. The precise founding date is uncertain but is generally estimated around 750. The style of the earliest artifacts at the site corresponds to the transitional period between the Vendel Age and the Viking Age, at the very end of the 8th century. These artifacts show similarities to objects found at Staraya Ladoga, which was founded around 753 according to dendrochronological analysis.

Location

Birka and Hovgården are located on the islands of Björkö and Adelsö, respectively, in Lake Mälar, approximately 30 km west of Stockholm. Both islands are part of the Ekerö Municipality within Stockholm County. The islands face each other and are separated by a strait a few hundred meters wide. According to its designation as a World Heritage Site, the protected area covers 226 hectares, including the entire northern part of Björkö and the Hovgården site. A buffer zone of 2,272 hectares surrounds this area, encompassing the remainder of Björkö, a large portion of Adelsö, and part of the lake between the two islands.

Lake Mälar is geologically part of the sub-Cambrian peneplain.

Tourism

Birka and Hovgården constitute a notable tourist destination, attracting approximately 60,000 to 70,000 visitors annually. The majority of visitors are Swedish, while around 30% come from other countries, particularly Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Italy. Birka is accessible by private boat, as the island has a small marina, and seasonally through companies offering regular tours from ports on Lake Mälar, including Strömma Kanalbolaget, which connects Birka to Stockholm in approximately two hours. Hovgården can be reached by car and bus via a ferry between the islands of Munsö and Adelsö, and Birka can be reached from Hovgården in around 15 minutes by boat operated by Strömma.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q2904503 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

Sweden's production of superior grades of iron made it a leader in this field in the 17th and 18th centuries. This site is the best-preserved and most complete example of this type of Swedish ironworks.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

The history of iron production in the region dates back to at least 13th century. The local peasants both mined the ore and produced the iron using primitive furnaces.

In the end of the 16th century more modern production methods were introduced in Engelsberg and production volumes increased substantially in the following decades.

The mill, which historically belonged to the Västervåla parish and Norberg, was built in 1681 by the county sheriff Per Larsson Höök (1645–1706). By then, ironworking had already been carried out on the site for a long time by miners.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q936884 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

The rock carvings in Tanum, in the north of Bohuslän, are a unique artistic achievement not only for their rich and varied motifs (depictions of humans and animals, weapons, boats and other subjects) but also for their cultural and chronological unity. They reveal the life and beliefs of people in Europe during the Bronze Age and are remarkable for their large numbers and outstanding quality.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Recent history

The first records of the images inscribed at the site were made in 1627 when Peder Alfsön, a Norwegian doctor and lector, made ink drawings of some of the carvings. The first professional recordings were made in 1792 by Carl Gustaf Gottfried Hilfeling, who was sent by nobleman Pehr Tham to draw the carvings. A number of excavations and recordings took place over the course of the early 19th century, primarily led by Carl Georg Brunius and Axel Emmanuel Holmberg, who published research and debated at length the most likely era of their creation. Strong arguments for the now accepted era were not made until the late 19th century, when Oscar Montelius and Viktor Rydberg presented evidence linking the drawings to the Bronze Age.

UNESCO's Description

This Stockholm cemetery was created between 1917 and 1920 by two young architects, Asplund and Lewerentz, on the site of former gravel pits overgrown with pine trees. The design blends vegetation and architectural elements, taking advantage of irregularities in the site to create a landscape that is finely adapted to its function. It has had a profound influence in many countries of the world.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

Skogskyrkogården came about following an international competition in 1915 for the design of a new cemetery in Enskede in the southern part of Stockholm, Sweden. The entry called "Tallum" by the young architects Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz was selected. After changes made to the design on the recommendations of the competition jury, work began in 1917 on land that had been old gravel quarries that were overgrown with pine trees, and the first phase was completed three years later. The architects' use of the natural landscape created an extraordinary environment of tranquil beauty that had a profound influence on cemetery design throughout the world.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q213988 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

Gammelstad, at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia, is the best-preserved example of a 'church village', a unique kind of village formerly found throughout northern Scandinavia. The 404 wooden houses, huddled round the early 15th-century stone church, were used only on Sundays and at religious festivals to house worshippers from the surrounding countryside who could not return home the same day because of the distance and difficult travelling conditions.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

The Gammelstad Church Town began as a trading settlement, and became the focus of religious observances for farming communities in the region. Gammelstad is an exceptionally well preserved example of a Scandinavian church town. Such settlements are unique, because they were shaped by the religious and social needs of a regions inhabitants, rather than by economic and geographic forces.

The numerous wooden houses constructed around the church were only used on Sundays, and in conjunction with religious festivals as overnight housing for worshippers from the surrounding countryside, whose journeys involved travelling long distances in a harsh natural environment.

UNESCO's Description

The Arctic Circle region of northern Sweden is the home of the Saami people. It is the largest area in the world (and one of the last) with an ancestral way of life based on the seasonal movement of livestock. Every summer, the Saami lead their huge herds of reindeer towards the mountains through a natural landscape hitherto preserved, but now threatened by the advent of motor vehicles. Historical and ongoing geological processes can be seen in the glacial moraines and changing water courses.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q1137314 (CC0).

Visiting Laponian National Park

Laponia is a national park system of 9,400 km2 (3,600 sq mi) and a UNESCO World Heritage site in Norrbotten County, in the Lappland province in northern Sweden.

Travel notes adapted from Wikivoyage: Laponia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

UNESCO's Description

The southern part of the island of Öland in the Baltic Sea is dominated by a vast limestone plateau. Human beings have lived here for some five thousand years and adapted their way of life to the physical constraints of the island. As a consequence, the landscape is unique, with abundant evidence of continuous human settlement from prehistoric times to the present day.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q396132 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

The enormous mining excavation known as the Great Pit at Falun is the most striking feature of a landscape that illustrates the activity of copper production in this region since at least the 13th century. The 17th-century planned town of Falun with its many fine historic buildings, together with the industrial and domestic remains of a number of settlements spread over a wide area of the Dalarna region, provide a vivid picture of what was for centuries one of the world's most important mining areas.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

There are no written accounts establishing exactly when mining operations at Falun Mine began. Archaeological and geological studies indicate, with considerable uncertainty, that mining operations started sometime around the year 1000. No significant activities had begun before 850, but the mine was definitely operating by 1080. Objects from the 10th century have been found containing copper from the mine. In the beginning, operations were of a small scale, with local farmers gathering ore, smelting it, and using the metal for household needs.

Around the time of Magnus III, king of Sweden from 1275 to 1290, a more professional operation began to take place. Nobles and foreign merchants from Lübeck had taken over from farmers.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q636194 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

The Varberg Radio Station at Grimeton in southern Sweden (built 1922–24) is an exceptionally well-preserved monument to early wireless transatlantic communication. It consists of the transmitter equipment, including the aerial system of six 127-m high steel towers. Although no longer in regular use, the equipment has been maintained in operating condition. The 109.9-ha site comprises buildings housing the original Alexanderson transmitter, including the towers with their antennae, short-wave transmitters with their antennae, and a residential area with staff housing. The architect Carl Åkerblad designed the main buildings in the neoclassical style and the structural engineer Henrik Kreüger was responsible for the antenna towers, the tallest built structures in Sweden at that time. The site is an outstanding example of the development of telecommunications and is the only surviving example of a major transmitting station based on pre-electronic technology.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

Beginning around 1910 industrial countries built networks of powerful transoceanic longwave radiotelegraphy stations to communicate telegraphically with other countries. During the First World War radio became a strategic technology when it was realized that a nation without long-distance radio capability could be isolated from the rest of the world by an enemy cutting its submarine telegraph cables. Sweden's geographical dependence on other countries' underwater cable networks, and the temporary loss of those vital connections during the war, motivated a decision in 1920 by the Swedish Parliament that the Royal Telegraph Agency build a high-power radiotelegraphy station in Sweden to transmit telegram traffic across the Atlantic.

Technical description

The electromechanical transmitter in Grimeton transmitted at a frequency of 17.2 kHz, i.e. in the VLF range, and was thus able to reach America.

In principle, an electric generator (A) is used for this purpose. This is set in rotation by a motor (500 HP, 711.3 rpm) via a gearbox (setup ratio: 2.97) and thus generates a continuous sinusoidal AC voltage (B) of 17.2 kHz or 17,200 Hz.

For comparison, generators of the public electricity networks produce an alternating voltage of 50 or 60 Hz, depending on the country. To produce such high frequencies with a generator, a fast-rotating generator (2115 revolutions per minute) with a special design is necessary.

In Grimeton, mainly Morse signals were transmitted.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q920206 (CC0).

UNESCO's Description

Seven timber houses are listed in this site located in the east of Sweden, representing the zenith of a regional timber building tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages. They reflect the prosperity of independent farmers who in the 19th century used their wealth to build substantial new homes with elaborately decorated ancillary houses or suites of rooms reserved for festivities. The paintings represent a fusion of folk art with the styles favoured by the landed gentry of the time, including Baroque and Rococo. Decorated by painters, including known and unknown itinerant artists, the listed properties represent the final flowering of a long cultural tradition.

From the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (CC BY-SA IGO 3.0).

History

The farmhouses of Hälsingland are a cultural heritage and an example of traditional Swedish construction technique in the old farming society in Hälsingland. The magnificent dwelling houses of the farms have become symbols of the term Hälsingland farms, although the farm as a production unit, including out buildings and land, is what constitutes a Hälsingland farm.

The Hälsingland farms reflect the rural construction techniques, using only wood, and are an expression of the popular architecture; the farmer’s way of building as it evolved according to the available means. To depict a general idea of the Hälsingland farm is difficult, as they vary between parishes and periods of time.

The uniqueness of these farms lie in the farmer’s ambition to build big.

Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q1642003 (CC0).