A short history of... Gamla Uppsala — Uppsala International Students

Welcome to another part of the Uppsala history series. Today we will take a look at Gamla Uppsala. Some of you may know this place as a beautiful location to take walks (if the weather allows it), but it’s also one of the places where the Viking heritage of Sweden is most obvious.

This place was inhabited since the so-called Vendel period, as we call the pre-Viking era, up until the 1100s. It was a central place and therefore served political, religious, and economic interests. Back in those days it laid close to the shore, before land elevation put it in the inland. The city there was the largest one in Uppland up until the middle ages and was one of the most important places in all of Sweden. For a visitor, the most prominent remains are the gigantic burial mounds. According to the Icelandic skald Snorri Sturluson those are the graves of the three kings Aun, Adils and Egil. These men are members of the Ynglinga line which traces its ancestry back to the Norse god Freyr. The mounds were erected between 500-650 and contained cremated remains as well as gifts such as golden and glass artifacts, drinking horns, whetstones and animal bones.

North-east of the burial mounds you will find another mound which was used for Things. This specific one was the assembly place for the Thing of all Swedes from prehistoric times until the middle ages and supposedly also by Gustav Vasa, serving historical claims. North of the church you will find a big, flat-free area, where the remains of a massive, 50m long hall have been excavated. This hall is sometimes connected to the legendary temple of Uppsala. This temple was mentioned by Adam of Bremen in his report of 11th century Sweden, one of the very few written documents we have of this time. He describes a golden temple where the Swedish population gathered every nine years to sacrifice nine males of every living creature, including humans, who were hung in a nearby grove for the will of the gods. Unfortunately, we can neither verify nor falsify this account since the archaeological findings aren’t sufficient. The church itself was built in the mid-12th century, but burnt down and was later re-erected. After the 1100s Gamla Uppsala lost its prominent position due to a growing nearby city which we now know as Uppsala.

This place is definitely worth a visit, historically interested might as well visit the nearby museum, because the aura of power and history that surrounds this place is still tangible.

Hauke Ulrichs