Lappstaden

Lappstaden is among the best preserved Sami church towns in the country: about eighty small buildings, kator with pyramidal turf and timber roofs and storage huts on posts, packed together on a slope in the middle of Arvidsjaur. It was moved to this site in the 1820s and has been used since by Sami families from the surrounding area, who come for the church weekends and above all for Storstamningshelgen at the end of August, when the huts fill and the town gathers. The buildings belong to families and are locked when not in use. Guided tours run in summer and are the way to hear how the place works.

The main sights

• About eighty huts and stores - kator with pyramidal roofs.
• A church town moved here in the 1820s - still in family ownership.
• The August gathering - Storstamningshelgen, when it fills.
• Buildings locked otherwise - private, not exhibits.

When to go

June to August; the last weekend of August is the gathering. An hour.

Before you go

The huts are private and closed except on tours. Outside summer there is nothing organised. It is a small site quickly walked. Arvidsjaur is remote.

Nearby

Arvidsjaur's steam railway runs in summer; Arjeplog is north-west.

Key facts