Gammelstad Church Town

Gammelstad, outside Lulea in the north, is the best-preserved church town in Sweden and a UNESCO site: over four hundred little red wooden cottages clustered around a great medieval stone church. They were built so that parishioners from scattered farms could stay overnight when travelling to distant church services and markets.

Background

The site entered the World Heritage List in 1996 as Church Village of Gammelstad, Luleå, and lies about 10 kilometers up the Lule River, near the northern tip of the Gulf of Bothnia. Its 520 buildings include 404 church cottages split into about 552 chambers, plus 116 other buildings, on 16.402 hectares with a buffer zone of 243.474 hectares. The late 15th-century church is the only stone building in the district. Land upheaval left the harbour unusable by the 17th century, trade moved elsewhere and growth stopped after the middle of that century, so the region's 19th-century industrialization passed the town by. The timber needs regular checks for rot, and snow is cleared all winter.

Source: Wikipedia, "Gammelstad Church Town"

What to look for

• The church cottages - the hundreds of tiny red cabins around the church.
• Nederlulea church - the large medieval stone church at the centre.
• The church-town tradition - the story of the overnight cottages and their use.
• The old town lanes - the cobbled ways between the red cabins.

When to go

Summer for guided tours and open cottages; winter gives the snow-covered red town a magical air. A clear day suits the walk between the cabins.

Good to know

The cottages are still privately owned and used, so most are seen from outside rather than entered. It is a compact, quiet site, an hour or two, best with a guided tour for the story. It is up on the northern coast, a fair way from the south.

Nearby

Lulea and its archipelago are close; the Swedish Lapland interior lies inland.