Adelsö Hovgården Traditional Cache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Hovgården UNESCO World Cultural Heritage
Birka, the neighbouring island to Adelsö has more visitors today because of it's Viking settlement. On Adelsö howwever you can find the remains of what was the Kings home place. He wanted to seperate from the "ordinary people", so he build his home a bit away on Adelsö. Both Birka and Adelsö are listed today on the UNESCO List of World Cultural Heritage. I placed this cache to encourage you to visit Adelsö!
This is what the Swedish Riksantikvarieämbetet writes about Hovgården:
"At Hovgården on Adelsö there are many valuable remains from the Viking Age onwards. At the medieval church there are a number of large burial mounds, the three biggest of which are called the Kings' Mounds. In the Viking Age there was also a harbour with a breakwater around a sheltered lagoon. In the harbour there is a rune-stone placed to face approaching boats. The royal estate from the Viking Age, situated up on a ridge, was closely linked to the town. From here Birka and the whole Mälaren valley could be governed by the king of the Swedes. The medieval castle of Alsnöhus was later built on top of the royal estate. It was here in 1279 that Sweden's estate of the nobility was founded.
Thanks to written sources, we know that Ansgar, a young Benedictine monk, came to Birka to preach the Christian gospel. His mission lasted a year and a half, during which time many of the townspeople were baptized. But Birka never became a Christian community. Instead pagans and Christians lived side by side until the end of the tenth century. Birka's role was then taken over by Sigtuna, and the Viking town on Björkö was abandoned. In the fourteenth century the once so important Alsnöhus was also left to decay, and Hovgården thus lost its importance."
If you come in a group you can book a phantastic guided tour by "Kalle the runemaker" at (visit link) - strongly recommended!
Please help preserve this place!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va gur ohfurf.