Överhogdal tapestries
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The Överhogdal tapestries are a group of extraordinary well preserved textiles from the Viking era. They were found in a barn near the parish church in Överhogdal in central Sweden in 1910. The tapestries were brought to Östersund, and the County Governor’s wife Ellen Widén, a dominant figure within the regional heritage movement at the time, took charge. The first thing she did was to give the dirty linen a good wash in a bath tub in the cellar. Fortunately, this rather rough treatment seems to have caused little damage.
First believed to date from the Middle Ages, C-14 tests conducted in 1991 proved that the tapestries were made between 800 and 1100 AD. This period is commonly referred to as the Viking Age, when Scandinavian seafarers plundered and traded their way through Europe and brought new influences back to the societies they came from. The most important of these proved to be Christianity, which little by little replaced the Norse gods.
The Överhogdal tapestries show a rich imagery of both Norse and Christian origin. Animal and human figures seem to rush by a tree, which could be the mighty ash Yggdrasil, the World Tree in Norse Mythology. Some scholars have suggested that what is shown is the Christianization of the region Härjedalen. However, the dominant theory is that Ragnarokk, the Armageddon of Norse mythology, is depicted.
Research has established that the figures are made of plant dyed wool, which is interwoven with the linen with a special technique. Today, these unique tapestries are on display in a specially designed room at Jamtli, the county museum of Jämtland.
