Advertisement
Published: September 28th 2016
Edit Blog Post
Gammelstad Church Town
The church town in Gammelstad outside Luleå is largest and the best preserved of church town in Sweden. In 1996 Gammelstad Church Town was added to the World Heritage List One world heritage, one world record and the largest social network in the world
I, Ake, have for several years been thinking about visiting the town Luleå in northern Sweden. The main reason is that I wanted to see
Gammelstad Church Town.
At one time there were a total of 71 church towns in Sweden. They were all located in northern Sweden, the least populated region in Sweden. The church towns were located close to the local church and were only used one night, or at the most two, per week. The villages in northern Sweden were small and far between each other. The population in each village was not large enough for them to have a church of their own. Instead they had to travel to the nearest town to visit the church service. Since distances were large and the roads were in poor condition it took many hours to travel to and from the church. It took so much time that it was impractical to go to the church, visit the ceremonies and go home in one day. Instead the churchgoers left their homes already on Saturday, went to town and stayed the night in
Gammelstad Church Town
At one time there were a total of 71 church towns in Sweden a small house near the church.
Most of these church towns have disappeared either from neglect or from being torn down when the rest of the town expanded. Today only 16 of the 71 church towns exist and the one in Gammelstad outside Luleå is the largest and best preserved of these. The value of Gammelstad Church Town was in 1996 recognised by UNESCO who then decided to add it to the World Heritage List. One of the most fascinating things about Gammelstad Church Town is that most of the small houses are still today used in the same way as they were intended to in the first place. People go there in the weekend, sleep one night, visit church and then go home. Why I think it's fascinating? Today everybody have cars and the roads are in good condition. It takes them only 30 minutes to drive to church, not four hours.
These church towns were created out of necessity but the people also understood how to benefit from them. When the people, who were mostly farmers, met at one place one day each week it became natural to make it a market
Nederluleå Church
The church towns were located close to the local church and were only used one night per week or at the most two. day. So the church towns also became the local market.
When the people visited the church town during the weekend they could also meet their friends and relatives who live in other villages. During the week they never had time to travel to each other, it could easily take two hours to go from one village to the next and you don't really travel that distance if all you want to do is to sit down over a cup of coffee and engage in a bit of small talk. However, everybody visited the church town and there you could see your cousin and talk about the upcoming harvest season or whatever they liked to talk about.
The villages where the people lived during the rest of the week were very small. If you were a young man or woman there were very few potential partners among your neighbors and the distance to the next village was often unconveniently large if you wanted to go on a date. Not to mention how hard it was to meet someone secretly. I mean, you don't really want to steal a kiss on a date when dad is
Gammelstad Church Town
The villages in northern Sweden were small and far between each other. The population in each village was not large enough for them to have a church of their own. watching you. Not to mention how embarrassing it would be if you are denied the kiss you try to steal when dad is watching. Well, the church towns provided a solution to the difficulties of finding a partner too. During the weekends young men and women from many villages gathered in one place and the selection of potential partners was all of a sudden much larger. Some weekends were even designated youth weekends. From what I understand there might have been quite a bit of fornication going on in the church towns during those weekends.
Noteable is that the houses in the church towns are the earliest examples of ordinary people having a vacation home or second home. During the weeks people worked but during the weekends they had time off. They spent much of that time in the house in the house in the church town so it comes very close to what we would call a vacation home.
In Stockholm there is an arena shaped as a globe, therefore also named the Globe. A Swedish astronomer came up with the idea of using the Globe to create a model of our solar
Gammelstad Church Town
Instead they had to travel to the nearest town to visit the church service. Since distances were large and the roads were in poor condition it took many hours to travel to and from the church. It took so much time that it was impractical to do it all in one day. Instead the churchgoers left their homes already on Saturday, went to town and stayed the night in a small house near the church. system called
Sweden Solar System. The Globe is in the model the sun and the size of the Globe also sets the scale of the model which is 1:20 million. At distances according to that scale are made to scale sculptures of planets, comets and other celestial objects. In this model the dwarf planet Sedna is placed in Luleå, 912 km from the Globe, and outside the science centre there is a sculpture of it. Sweden Solar System is an official Guinness world record as the world's largest model of anything.
In Luleå Facebook has a large server hall. From what I understand Facebook does not want unannounced visitors showing up at their doorstep. But they can't really stop people from going up to their carpark and take a photo. Note that they have spelt the word "Entrance" wrong on the sign. So embarrassing!
The last thing I will write about here in this blog on Luleå is the
train museum. I am not a train fanatic but I like trains. This museum I thought was worth visiting. Though I don't have anything to compare with so I don't know if it is a good one. To
Gammelstad Church Town
Most of these church towns have disappeared either from neglect or from being torn down when the rest of the town expanded. me it felt like much of it was under construction. So in a few years it might be even better than it is today.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.526s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 50; qc: 177; dbt: 0.2314s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.6mb
Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Church Towns
Another interesting blog of fascinating aspects of Swedish life...church towns. Makes a lot of sense to uphold the spiritual unity of the populace in sparsely populated regions. And raising the relevance of Sedna as a dwarf planet. The planets have always fascinated me. I'll have to check that out.