Hovgården

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Birka and Hovgården*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party Flag of Sweden Sweden
Type Cultural
Criteria iii, iv
Reference 555
Region† Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription 1993  (17th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
† Region as classified by UNESCO.

Hovgården is an archaeological site on the Lake Mälaren island of Adelsö in Ekerö Municipality in central-eastern Sweden. During the Viking Age, the centre of the prospering Mälaren Valley was the settlement Birka, founded in the mid-8th century and abandoned in the late 10th century and located on the island Björkö just south of Adelsö. Hovgården is believed to have been the site from where kings and chieftains ruled the area. Hovgården, together with Birka became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.[1]

Hovgården is located on the flat country north-west of the Romanesque Adelsö Church, characterised by a narrow rift valley stretching north to forest-laden moraines. These historical meadows lands were cultivated in the 19th century and have hardly been altered since, as several well-preserved 18th century farmyards bares witness of.[2]

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[edit] History

The Hovgården runestone from around 1070.
The Hovgården runestone from around 1070.

The oldest archaeological remains on Adelsö, found north of Hovgården, are grave fields and burial mounds from the Bronze Age (c. 1800-500 BCE). Apparently this culture survived into the Iron Age (500-800 CE) as graves from the early part of this period have been found at several locations in the area. At Hovgården some 124 graves have been found; the oldest from late Roman Iron Age (1-400 CE) and the youngest from the beginning of the Middle ages (c. 1050-1520), indicating the area has been settled uninterruptedly throughout this period.[2]

Just north of the the parish church are five large burial mounds of which three are so called "King's Mounds" (kungshögar). So, apparently Hovgården was the location for a royal estate (Kungsgård) as early as the Viking Age (c. 800-1050 CE). An excavation of one of these royal mounds in 1917 revealed the remains of a wealthy man who lived around 900 CE. He was burned lying in a boat, dressed in expensive clothing but without weapons, accompanied by horses, cows, and dogs.[2]

Ruins of Alsnö hus.
Ruins of Alsnö hus.

Birka, the oldest town in Sweden, was an international trade post. It has been assumed the royal settlement at Hovgården was established as the king's mean of controlling Birka. However, while Birka was abandoned in the mid-10th century, the royal estate was apparently not as the runestone U 11 from around 1070 which claims to have been carved for the king was erected next to the royal mounds.[2] It was part of Uppsala öd, a network of royal estates supporting the Kings of Sweden.

Furthermore, King Magnus Barnlock had the old castle replaced by a palace built in brick, Alsnö hus, in the 1270s. In the palace, the king established the Swedish nobility through the Ordinance of Alsnö (Alsnö stadga) in 1279. However, the palace was destroyed before the end of that century[2], and as it was left to decay Hovgården lost in importance.[1]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b National Heritage Board
  2. ^ a b c d e Bratt

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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