• Experience Guide (sv, dk, no, eng)
  • Corporate (in Swedish)
  • Press & Media
  • Travel Trade
  • Destinations
  • Northern Sweden
  • Swedish Lapland

The Gammelstad Church Village in Luleå

Gammelstad Church Village charms with its 15th-century stone church, medieval streets, and its UNESCO World Heritage Site status. You'll find it in the town of Luleå, in Swedish Lapland.

What is a church village?

Gammelstad , with its church and 404 wooden buildings and a total of 552 separate rooms, is the largest and best-preserved example of a church village in Sweden.

Church villages, uniquely found in northern Scandinavia, grew in the north due to large parish areas and difficult geographical and weather conditions – factors that made it quite a trip for churchgoers to actually get to church. Solution? Build a village around the church where you could sleep overnight, meet other parishioners, and stay for weekly masses and church celebrations.

Open-air museum

The red cottages were traditionally used as intended up until the 1950s. Today, the church village is a living community and an open-air museum . Some of the cottages are still used by churchgoers for major seasonal church celebrations.

To do in Gammelstad Church Village

You can go on quaint lantern guided tours, visit a church cottage or take a ride with a horse and sleigh. You can also learn about traditional cooking, and try handicrafts such as butter churning, blacksmithing, bread baking and candle making.

Gammelstad Church Town in northern Sweden

Gammelstad Church Town is a UNESCO world heritage site in northern Sweden.The 424 wooden houses, located around the 15th-century stone church, were once used by worshipers who had to travel far to get to the church service.

Photo : Gammelstad Visitor Centre

Related articles

When and where to see the magical northern lights in sweden, icehotel – the coolest hotel in the world, when and where to see the spectacular midnight sun, sámi handicraft.

  • Map & transport

The Church Town of Gammelstad

Gammelstad is a unique kind of village with 424 wooden houses at the head of Gulf of Bothnia.

The town has 405 cottages with 552 chambers huddled around the early 15th-century stone church and totally there are 520 protected buildings and this give the world heritage site an outstanding value.

Sweden had total 71 church towns but only 16 remains. In Gammelstad you find the best-preserved and largest church town in Sweden. The Church Town of Gammelstad became a member of Unesco World Heritage List in 1996.

Information

Getting there.

Find routes to this destination.

Coordinates

  • Lattitude: 65.645985
  • Longitude: 22.028595

See All Heritage Sites in Sweden

Drottningholm Palace

Drottningholm Palace

Birka and Hovgården

Birka and Hovgården

Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland Heritage

Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland Heritage

Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland

Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland

Visby on Gotland

Visby on Gotland

Naval Port of Karlskrona Heritage

Naval Port of Karlskrona Heritage

Rock Carvings in Tanum

Rock Carvings in Tanum

Skogskyrkogården

Skogskyrkogården

High Coast/ Kvarken Archipelago

High Coast/ Kvarken Archipelago

Laponian Area

Laponian Area

Grimeton Radio Station, Varberg

Grimeton Radio Station, Varberg

The Struve Geodetic Arc

The Struve Geodetic Arc

Mining Area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun

Mining Area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun

Engelsberg Ironworks

Engelsberg Ironworks

The Church Town of Gammelstad

Gammelstad Church Town World Heritage Site

Gammelstad Church Town was included in UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1996, and is thereby covered by The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage . The objects on the World Heritage List all bear unique testimony to the history of the world and mankind. They are invaluable to humanity and must be preserved for posterity. The list contains abuot 750 cultural and natural environments of which the Great Wall of China, the Great Barrier Reef of Australia and Sveaborg outside Helsinki are among the better known. As well as Gammelstad Church Town, Norrbotten also has the World Heritage Laponia, which is the largest area of wilderness in Europe. Gammelstad is an outstanding example of a Northern Scandinavian church town. More than 400 cottages, which were used on Sundays and during major religious festivals, markets and local courts, are grouped around the late medieval stone church in Gammelstad. The cottages served as overnight stop for parishioners who lived too far away to make the journey to the church and back in one day. The City of Luleå was founded around the old church in the 17th century. Today Gammelstad consists of a unique assortment of church cottages, year-round dwellings and public buildings. The church cottages are still used in a traditional way.

Nearest bus stop:

Kyrktorget/Stadsö centrum

Gammelstads Kyrkstad in winter

Phone: +46 920-457010 Email: [email protected]

Visit website

Kyrktorget 1 95433 Luleå Sweden

Related destinations

Open air museum hägnan.

Hägnan Vinter Helena Holm 9

Hägnan's Village Shop

Gstad Sommar 1351 Web

Gammelstad Visitor Center

 Foto: Susanne Lindholm

Guided lantern walk in Gammelstad Church Town

visit gammelstad.se

Explore the church town in the glow of lanterns

Experience the World Heritage Gammelstad Church Town in it's magical, winter surrounding. We walk together with lanterns on the snow-covered streets, visit a church cottage and if possible, the late medieval Nederluleå church.

During the lantern walk you will also learn more about the history of the church town, how the church cottages are used today and why Gammelstad Church Town is a World Heritage Site important to preserve for future generations.

The lantern walk takes 60 minutes and starts outside of the Visitor Center. You can send in a booking request under "Group bookings" or e-mail [email protected] and we'll get back to you with a price offer. The lantern walk is offered in Swedish and in English. German and French cannot be guaranteed but depends on availablity.

  • Link copied!

More information

Aktivitet Boka online

Swedish Lapland

  • Stories from Swedish Lapland
  • Getting here
  • Care for the Arctic

Follow us on social medias

Things to do

visit gammelstad.se

A TASTE OF THE ARCTIC

visit gammelstad.se

SUMMER IN THE ARCTIC

visit gammelstad.se

ARCTIC LIFESTYLE

visit gammelstad.se

THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

visit gammelstad.se

ICONIC PLACES

visit gammelstad.se

FLY FISHING HEAVEN

visit gammelstad.se

ARCTIC WELLNESS

visit gammelstad.se

LET'S GO HIKING

visit gammelstad.se

CLOSE TO NATURE

visit gammelstad.se

THE LOVE FOR SKIING

visit gammelstad.se

WINTER IN THE ARCTIC

  • Meetings & Incentives
  • Press & media
  • Cookie Policy
  • Covid-19: Information for Swedish Lapland travellers

visit gammelstad.se

A SWEDISH LAPLAND STORY

A place to preserve, photo: ted logart, text: håkan stenlund.

Red log cabins in a kind of organised chaos around one of northern Sweden’s most beautiful churches – this might not be a completely accurate picture of World Heritage Gammelstad, but that’s what it feels like when you walk around the ‘town’ alleyways. Everything is neatly painted in that classic Swedish red colour, a kind of Nordic dream in pine.

If you stroll around the church village in the company of the guide Christoffer Svensson Ehlin, it’s very easy to start yearning for a journey in time. It makes you want to have been here back in the days when church duty made farmers haul themselves to church and service every Sunday, with courtship and partying as a bonus. If the farmer lived ten kilometres away, attendance was expected every weekend, and twenty kilometres meant every other weekend and so on. The further away, the less church duty. This caused another problem: it just wasn’t possible to travel back and forth on a Sunday for many of those living in the parish. Instead, they were allowed to build a house on land owned by the church. Suddenly church villages emerged. The most well-preserved one is Gammelstad outside Luleå .

In Sweden, 16 church villages remain, and basically, all of them in the northernmost part of the country. 13 of them are found in the area that makes up the destination Swedish Lapland. From Ammarnäs in the mountains to Lövånger, in Skellefteå by the coast, up to Råneå, is where you’ll find most of them. Many of them have just a few or a dozen cottages, but Gammelstad church town outside Luleå consists of around 400 cottages and parish storage houses. Since 1996, Gammelstad church town is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, listing places worth preserving for the future.

Perhaps it sounds insanely dull to walk around listening to church history, but in the company of a guide, things are neither religious nor tedious – not at all. – What do you think, they’ve given me the key to the Bell Tower so that we could go up there today, says Christoffer. – It’s narrow and awkward, and we don’t usually take guests there, but I thought perhaps you might be interested in Luleå’s highest building built without the necessary permission.

Well, who wouldn’t be?

A lack of permission

The farmers around Gammelstad were wealthy. Salmon fishing in the Lule River was a massive source of income. In fact, speaking of moving towns as is the case in both Gällivare and Kiruna as a result of the mining business, that kind of move is nothing new in this part of Sweden. Back in the middle of the 17th century, people in Norrbotten county were forced to move the city of Luleå from its very location at Gammelstad to its present location at the mouth of the Luleå River. This was because the land rebound made the harbour in Gammelstad to shallow for ships to sail in and out and collect the salmon that had been caught. The silver salmon of the Lule River could be compared to the ore in the ore fields of today.

Anyway, these well-off citizens had commissioned a drawing from a local architect for a new bell tower they wanted to build. In Uppsala, however, where the drawings were supposed to be approved, they had different ideas about how it should look, and the drawings were redone. But when the new drawings came back to Gammelstad, someone put them in some dusty cupboard or other. Because the people of Luleå wanted it their way. Uppsala had no business interfering, so without permission and approved drawings, the bell tower in Gammelstad was built.

Stubborn farmers

Perhaps these farmers got away with their stubbornness just because of their healthy finances. Gammelstad’s church has stood here since 1492, and it’s beautifully adorned and well cared for. The altar cabinet tells the story of the suffering of Christ and is one of the finest in the country. It wasn’t ordered from somewhere next door; it came from Antwerpen where the best craftsmen worked, and cost 900 silver marks. It was a tremendous amount of money in 1520, but the farmers in the area are said to have paid it all cash and in advance.

Carl Linnaeus visited Gammelstad during his journey around Lapland 1732, and even if it was his Flora Lapponica that made his trip famous in scientific circles, his book Iter Lapponicum tells the story about a midsummer weekend and everything that goes with it. The Luleå River was a financial factor in the building of the Swedish state, and among other things, it was the money from salmon fishing up here that paid for Uppsala University. By way of anecdote, it’s said that salmon fishing in the Torne Valley once laid the foundation for the Swedish Academy’s treasure chest. So, this area has always been well-off.

In the bread-making hut

Strolling around the church village, you’ll almost always end up in the outdoor area Hägnan sooner or later. It’s a place many families with children are grateful for, as the area is excellent for entertaining even the youngest family members as they roam freely around the living countryside among animals and history.

In the old bread-making hut at Hägnan, the antiquarian Ann-Louise is baking bread. We’re invited into the hut, and it smells lovely. On the table, there is coffee, freshly-baked bread and butter. Ann-Louise rolls out the dough and says: “the better and more beautiful bread you bake, the better looking a partner you’ll get”. And one thing is for sure: my man, he’s handsome.

A living cultural heritage

Today’s Gammelstad is a mix of cultural environment and living society. During certain periods the village comes to life. It resembles the olden days, such as during the traditional midsummer celebration when the entire area comes together to jump around a pole clad in leaves and flowers to the tune of ‘Little Frogs’, or the second Sunday of Advent when the annual Christmas market takes place at Hägnan.

There’s never that “museum-feel” to it, even if the Visitor Centre has an outstanding exhibition about the area and its history. Above all, it’s recommended to take a guided tour of the village. The guide Christoffer, who brought me up to the highest building in Luleå without planning permission, also shows me one of the cottages the Visitor Centre has at its disposal to share the history of the church village. It’s a large cottage that was used by a wealthy fur trader, but nowadays it’s an exhibition house. The coffee pot was a central item in those days – a tradition that’s still very much alive. Even if you weren’t allowed to cook on a Sunday, the day of rest, making coffee was an exception. The social network used to be somewhat more hands-on back then. During the big church weekends, people ran around, knocking on each other’s windows. If you could travel back in time, I’m sure you’d be standing outside a little red cottage, gently tapping a window. And if someone opened the window, you’d sing a song or recite a poem. Then, if you were lucky and did everything right, you might have been invited in for coffee and biscuits here among the church village’s red-painted dreams of pine.

Gammelstad Church Town is one of 16 church villages that remain in Sweden. This place is also one of Sweden’s 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, sites worth preserving for the future. You can visit Gammelstad church village all year round, more information at visitlulea.se .

Share the story

World’s best place for northern lights

Abisko National Park, in Swedish Lapland, offers some of the best conditions in the world for northern lights watching. ...

The mindset of Geunja

Even with people there, the calmness of the place stands out. Geunja Sámi Eco Lodge stands there, carefully tucked in be...

A stay in history

Once upon a time, Haparanda was where the East met West, a hangout for spies, robbers and war profiteers. If the walls o...

The midnight light

visit gammelstad.se

CHO

CulturalHeritageOnline: The Gammelstad of Lulea - Virtual Tour 360 °

The gammelstad of lulea - virtual tour 360 °.

visit gammelstad.se

Gammelstaden is an urban area of Sweden located in the municipality of Luleå , county of Norrbotten .

visit gammelstad.se

In Sweden, just over 100 kilometers from the Finnish border, is the city of Lulea (Luleju in Northern Sami, Luulaja in Finnish). The city is the main center of Norrbotten County. It overlooks the sea and in front of it hosts the largest archipelago of brackish waters in the world with more than one thousand three hundred islands.

Lulea is the second largest city in northern Scandinavia ( find out on Youtube ). But not only. It is also a lively center for academic research, technological innovation ( click to see a video ) and mining.

visit gammelstad.se

Geeks and miners? Not exactly. The heart of Lulea beats lively behind the double port of the city, in its parks and clubs. But Lulea also has an ancient heart, that of the seventeenth-century Gammelstad.

visit gammelstad.se

The "Gammelstad"

In the heart of Swedish Lapland lies one of those places that are as beautiful as they are rare. It is one of those places, not to be missed, that makes you discover the pleasure of small things. It takes you back centuries, and inebriates you with those colors and scents that know of a history that has now passed for at least four hundred years.

visit gammelstad.se

Gammelstad (literally "old city") Church Town is the perfect example of how the adaptation of traditional urban planning can also take place, in a hostile natural environment, to particular geographical and climatic conditions.

With this motivation, in 1996, Unesco declared Gammelstad a World Heritage Site .

When you arrive near Gammelstad and see, from afar, that the horizon is tinged with the red of the buildings and the white of the doors and windows, it means that you have finally arrived in this village of other times.

In this strip of Northern Scandinavia, after all, even a simple walk of at least two hours can be something truly unique , getting lost in the narrow streets of this “open-air museum”, scrutinizing the more than four hundred houses.

visit gammelstad.se

The parish village of Gammelstad was initially built as a small commercial settlement. But it soon became the fulcrum of religious services for the agricultural communities of the region.

The Gammelstad rises around the large medieval church, where the parish house and the granary are also located. The village consists of 424 colored red wooden houses (for a total of 555 rooms) and is the largest and best preserved parish village in Sweden.

visit gammelstad.se

Examples of parish villages, such as that of Gammelstad, spread especially in the north of Sweden due to the presence of very large and faithful parishes that had to live with difficult geographical and climatic conditions.

Two factors, which prompted the religious to build their villages around the church to welcome pilgrims during the night and to create real reception and prayer centers.

visit gammelstad.se

In that historical period, moreover, Swedish law obliged a constant attendance of the church and everyone was required to strictly respect it: "If the farmer lived 10 kilometers away, attendance was scheduled every weekend, if he lived 20 kilometers away every two weekends and so on. The further he went, the less frequently he had to go to church ”.

The construction of the medieval church began in 1492 and around it there were over 400 wooden houses that were used only on Sundays, during the main religious holidays, during markets and other local events. Until the end of the 1950s, the houses were not inhabited continuously, but were frequented almost exclusively on Sundays or on days when particular Christian holidays occurred. Today, however, the village has its own active community and is a beautiful example of an open-air museum that looks like a postcard in winter with the snow! ( Watch a video ).

visit gammelstad.se

Your position

The location of Gammelstad was one of the regions, for which a parochial and non-commercial type village developed on this site. In fact, starting from the 17th century, the port of the village of Gammelstad became completely unusable due to the continuous post-glacial process of the earth.

In that period, in fact, we witnessed the lowering of the waters of the ancient port concomitant with the raising of the land on which the village stands.

visit gammelstad.se

Gradually, therefore, it became more and more difficult for ships to enter and leave the port. Citizens, therefore, were forced to transfer maritime and commercial activities to the coast, effectively creating a new settlement which took the name of Luleå. While the previous village was baptized, precisely, Gammelstad.

The shift of commercial activity towards the sea, therefore, was one of the fortunes of the parish village. If it has remained intact over the centuries, in fact, it is also due to this decentralized position which made it immune to subsequent industrialization in the nineteenth century that affected the entire region.

visit gammelstad.se

The itinerary

The visit of Gammelstad can only start from the Visitor Center , where the tourist can find everything he needs for a brief knowledge of the village and all the possible attractions and activities.

Inside there are some brochures and some maps. On the second floor, however, it is possible to visit a historical exhibition of Gammelstad. Admission to the exhibition is free.

visit gammelstad.se

In Gammelstad there are more than 400 log cabins, six stables and a barn and another hundred buildings.

The red houses are small and not very tall. Most of them can accommodate one or two rooms. There are very few houses that have two floors as they have the ability to accommodate more rooms.

Strolling from street to street, the wooden houses might look identical. After all, the differences are really minimal from house to house and mostly related to size, height, roof or some details that, with the naked eye, could really go unnoticed.

visit gammelstad.se

Occasionally along the itinerary, you may come across some larger buildings. Historically they were those that were assigned to officials or traders who lived here all year round.

Among the buildings, which may draw your attention, are the Guest House, Bethel Chapel, the Mayor's Residence, the Separatists' Cottage and the Captain's Residence.

visit gammelstad.se

Today, the houses are privately owned and periodically the owners and other faithful meet to observe religious services, small markets or cultural activities. Some cottages in the village, however, are owned by the Nederluleå Historical Association which, there, has opened the cottages to the public in a sort of small exhibition museum.

Inside there is the characteristic furniture of the time, some traditional clothes and many other objects, which offer a wonderful opportunity to discover how the cottages looked from the inside. Click to take a look at the interior.

visit gammelstad.se

Continuing along the itinerary, passing from cottage to cottage, you can get to the Church of Nederluleå : the largest medieval church in northern Sweden.

The church, which stands on an ancient wooden chapel, is built entirely of natural stone of about fourty different types, with brick fixtures and decorations. It dates back to the 15th century and was inaugurated in 1492 by Archbishop Jacob Ulfsson.

visit gammelstad.se

Inside the church, there is a presbytery that highlights the paintings dating back to the beginning of the sixteenth century, which were probably made by the school of Albertus Pictor. The altarpiece, on the other hand, was made in 1520 in Antwerp, and tells of the Passion of Christ. Other elements that characterize this place are the late medieval crucifix and the baptismal font entirely in marble.

The wooden pulpit dates back to 1712 and was made and sculpted by Nils Fluur, while the sculptures were added in 1745. The church organ, on the other hand, has 4,200 pipes and was built by the Grönlund Organ Palace.

visit gammelstad.se

The current bell tower, adjacent to the church, was commissioned to a local architect, Erik Hollström, by the villagers. It was built between 1849 and 1952. It is impressive with its 39 meters, entirely made (inside) with natural stone with slatted bricks, plastered and with a wooden and metal roof.

Several cracks within the church structure, the surrounding wall and its position indicate that, in the past, the building was also used as a defensive structure to control the surrounding area up to the port.

Adjacent to the church there are also the Parish House and the Granary of the Tithes.

visit gammelstad.se

Near Gammelstad is the Hägnan Open Air Museum. An open-air museum that shows what life was like in a coastal village in this region between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries.

The museum is run by guides in period costume and houses buildings from all over Swedish Lapland and a small farm where you can find pigs, goats, rabbits and chickens.

visit gammelstad.se

Gammelstad and some of its appointments

The second weekend of Advent is the Christmas market . It is one of the most charming in Sweden. Along the streets of the village you can see some examples of local crafts, delicious homemade sweets, Santa Claus while entertaining the children or you can get on fantastic horse-drawn sleighs.

visit gammelstad.se

As if in magic, the windows of the cottages light up with hundreds of candles and the streets are filled with a thousand scents. Click to see a nice video of the Christmas period

But the surprises, in these parts, are never lacking, especially if you arrive ... "her Majesty" 'the Northern Lights! And then everything seems magically divine in that fantastic riot of colors that will not be forgotten so quickly.

visit gammelstad.se

In summer, however, during the longest day of the year, the midsummer celebrations take place. It is a day full of events and full of traditional activities, including decorating and raising the Maypole, lessons in bread making and crafts, many dances and games, jumps in the haystack and many other activities that always attract a great crowd.

visit gammelstad.se

How to get to Gammelstad

By car. the village is easily accessible. The village is about ten kilometers from the center of Lulea and can be reached in just a few minutes by first following Route 94 and then Route 97.

Alternatively, you can get there by public transport ( LLT website ). Buses depart from Lulea's Smedjegatan station. There are three lines:

  • Bus 9 towards Kyrkbyn which goes directly to the parish village. Stop: Kyrktorget ..
  • Bus 1 or 2 towards Sunderbysjukhus. Stop: Stadsöcentrum. From here continue on foot for one kilometer to the village following the signs for Kyrkbyn.

visit gammelstad.se

"Gammelstad 360"

Gammelstad 360 allows you to magically discover this parish village from the comfort of your home.

Its map is completely interactive, showing historical photographs, videos and lots of information on the various areas of the village.

Video: The Gammelstad of Lulea - Virtual Tour 360 °

The Gammelstad of Lulea - Virtual Tour 360 ° Map

visit gammelstad.se

IMAGES

  1. Gammelstad

    visit gammelstad.se

  2. Gammelstad Visitor Center

    visit gammelstad.se

  3. world heritage of gammelstad

    visit gammelstad.se

  4. Gammelstad

    visit gammelstad.se

  5. Gammelstad Church Town, a place to preserve

    visit gammelstad.se

  6. Sweden’s best-preserved Church Town, Gammelstad

    visit gammelstad.se

VIDEO

  1. Gammelstad 2021

  2. Strong winds sweeping away fresh-fallen snow. Wind sculpted snow fields in Gammelstad

  3. Gammelstad in Schweden Richtung Finnland. Ein Drohnenfilm

  4. Hyundai CRETA N Line

  5. 05 Olofsfors Bruk Museum und Gammelstad Kirchstadt

  6. Sweden

COMMENTS

  1. Gammelstad

    Gammelstad - Ingen beskrivning. Välkommen till världsarvet Gammelstads kyrkstad och Friluftsmuseet Hägnan

  2. Plan your visit

    The world heritage Gammelstad Church Town is the largest and most well-preserved church town in the world. Here you will find a medieval stone church, surrounded by hundreds of red church cottages. Located next door is the open-air museum Hägnan, that displays life on the countryside in the North of Sweden from the late 18th Century to the 1940s.

  3. Gammelstad Visitor Center

    Gammelstad Visitor Center is located in the middle of Gammelstad Church Town World Heritage Site, just next to the beautiful Nederluleå Church. It is the perfect place to learn more about Gammelstad's fascinating history and receive tourist information. Remember to visit the entertaining and educational exhibition on the second floor of the ...

  4. Guided tour of the world heritage Gammelstad Church Town

    The guided tour takes 60 minutes and starts outside of the Visitor Center. We offer guided tours all year round on set dates. You can pre-book your ticket online up to a day before the tour or if you want to book on the day of the tour, kindly give us a call or send an e-mail to [email protected]. If none of the dates fit you and your group ...

  5. Visitor Center

    Discover the Visitor Center in Gammelstad. Start your visit to Gammelstad at the Visitor Center. Here we have a small souvenir shop, an exhibition about the history of the area, brochures and audioguides for rent. Here you will learn everything you need to know during your stay in Gammelstad.

  6. Gammelstads kyrkstad

    Gammelstads kyrkstad. Strax utanför Luleå ligger Gammelstads kyrkstad, ett av Sveriges 15 världsarv. Gammelstads kyrkstad är sedan 1996 upptagen på UNESCOs världsarvslista över platser värda att bevara. Gammelstad var i själva verket stadens centrum ända fram till 1600-talet.

  7. Gammelstad Church Town

    Visitor Center in Gammelstad offers group activities in the World Heritage Gammelstad Church Town all year round, you can read more about our activities and events under "See and do". Send in a booking request by e-mailing [email protected] and we will get back to you with a price offer. We offer guided tours in and English and Swedish.

  8. Gammelstad Church Town

    Just outside Luleå you will find Gammelstad Church Town, one of Sweden's World Heritage Sites on UNESCO's list of places worth preserving. Gammelstad actually used to be Luleå's town centre up until the 17th century. Then, land uplift made the Gammelstad harbour too shallow, which meant that in 1649 the town had to be moved closer to ...

  9. Virtual visit to Gammelstad

    Visit Gammelstad virtually with Gammelstad 360. If you don't have the opportunity to visit the church town physically, you can still experience the site - through a virtual visit!

  10. About the World Heritage Gammelstad Church Town

    Gammelstad's church town is an excelent example of the traditional church town found in northern Scandinavia. It illustrates in an extraordinary way the adaptation of traditional urban planning to the special geographical and climatological conditions that prevail in a difficult natural environment.

  11. The Gammelstad Church Village in Luleå

    What is a church village? Gammelstad, with its church and 404 wooden buildings and a total of 552 separate rooms, is the largest and best-preserved example of a church village in Sweden. Church villages, uniquely found in northern Scandinavia, grew in the north due to large parish areas and difficult geographical and weather conditions ...

  12. Gammelstad

    Gammelstad is a unique kind of village with 424 wooden houses at the head of Gulf of Bothnia. The town has 405 cottages with 552 chambers huddled around the early 15th-century stone church and totally there are 520 protected buildings and this give the world heritage site an outstanding value. Sweden had total 71 church towns but only 16 remains.

  13. Gammelstad Visitor Center

    Telefon: +46 920-45 70 10. E-post: [email protected]. Besök webbplats. Kyrktorget 1. 95433 Luleå. Gammelstad Visitor Center finner du mitt i världsarvet Gammelstads Kyrkstad.

  14. Gammelstad

    About Gammelstad Church Town. About the open-air museum Hägnan. Gammelstad - Ingen beskrivning.

  15. Gammelstad Church Town World Heritage Site

    See & do Gammelstad Church Town World Heritage Site. Gammelstad Church Town was included in UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1996, and is thereby covered by The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.The objects on the World Heritage List all bear unique testimony to the history of the world and mankind.

  16. Guided lantern walk in Gammelstad Church Town

    You can send in a booking request under "Group bookings" or e-mail [email protected] and we'll get back to you with a price offer. The lantern walk is offered in Swedish and in English. German and French cannot be guaranteed but depends on availablity. Link copied! More information Location. Gammelstad. Tags ...

  17. Gammelstad Church Town

    Gammelstad Church Town (Swedish: Gammelstads kyrkstad) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated in Gammelstaden 10 km north of Luleå, Sweden, at the northern end of the Gulf of Bothnia. It is the best preserved example of a type of town that was once widespread throughout northern Scandinavia.As Church Village of Gammelstad, Luleå, it was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1996.

  18. Gammelstad Church Town, a place to preserve

    Gammelstad Church Town is one of 16 church villages that remain in Sweden. This place is also one of Sweden's 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, sites worth preserving for the future. You can visit Gammelstad church village all year round, more information at visitlulea.se. Just outside Luleå, you'll find Gammelstad Church Town, a UNESCO World ...

  19. Your ultimate guide to Gammelstad church town in Swedish Lapland

    Check the full opening hours for Hägnan here. Location | Gamla Hamngatan 21, 954 33 Gammelstad (just northeast of the Nederluleä church) Tours | You can book a 1-hour guided tour of Hägnan by contacting them directly. sweden's southern gem:8 incredible things to do in småland. VISIT THE NEDERLULEÄ CHURCH.

  20. Gammelstads Kyrkstad (Gammelstad Church Town)

    Gammelstad Church Town, located just north of Luleå, is the largest surviving church town in northern Sweden. The picturesque village, dating back to the 15th century, boasts quaint, red-painted ...

  21. CulturalHeritageOnline: The Gammelstad of Lulea

    Gammelstad 360 allows you to magically discover this parish village from the comfort of your home. Its map is completely interactive, showing historical photographs, videos and lots of information on the various areas of the village. The Gammelstad of Lulea - Virtual Tour 360 °. Address: Kyrktorget 1, 954 33, Gammelstad.

  22. Gammelstaden, Luleå kommun

    Gammelstaden innan 1980 Gammelstad[ 5] är en tätort strax väster om Luleå i Luleå kommun, Norrbottens län. Gammelstaden brukar ofta beskrivas som det egentliga Luleås äldsta del. Kring kyrkan ligger Gammelstads kyrkstad med 404 kyrkstugor [ 6] i nära ursprungligt skick. Kyrkstaden finns med på Unescos världsarvslista sedan 1996.