Bla Jungfrun National Park

Bla Jungfrun rises about eighty-six metres out of the strait between Oland and the mainland, a dome of bare pink-grey granite scoured smooth by ice, with a labyrinth cut into the rock, deep clefts and caves on the northern side, and small stands of stunted oak in the hollows. Folklore made it the place where witches gathered at Easter, and there was long a taboo on taking stone from it - guides still repeat that visitors who pocket a pebble post it back. Excavation has found ritual use going back thousands of years. It became a national park in 1926. Boats run in summer only and landings depend on the swell.

Background

The island, also called Blåkulla and in English sometimes the Blue Maiden, lies in the Kalmar Strait between Småland and Öland, belongs to Oskarshamn municipality and covers approximately 0.7 square kilometres. Geologically it is an old inselberg standing on the Sub-Cambrian peneplain. After forming in the Precambrian it lay buried in sandstone, which shielded it from erosion until it was uncovered in geologically recent times. Between 1904 and 1925 red granite was cut from three quarries on the south side. Researchers found a cultural layer in 2014 and later recovered Stone Age quartz shards, probably left by hunter-gatherers around 8500BC. Olaus Magnus recorded the witches' Maundy Thursday gathering in 1555, and Carl Linnaeus, who visited in 1741, doubted it.

Source: Wikipedia, "Blå Jungfrun"

Highlights

• A bare granite dome - eighty-six metres, ice-scoured smooth.
• Caves and deep clefts - on the northern side.
• A rock labyrinth - among the older traces.
• Stunted oak in the hollows - the only real cover.

When to go

June to August, when boats run. A full day.

What to expect

Landings are cancelled in swell, which happens often. Boats run a short season and time ashore is fixed by the schedule. The rock is slippery and there are no facilities. There is no shelter of any kind.

Nearby

Oskarshamn is on the mainland; Byxelkrok is on northern Oland.

Key facts