​​​ Lost Paradises Travels - Europe  

SWEDEN - Gammelstad

Gammelstad is the old church village (1492) and is originaly the main city with an important harbour. Due to the land rising (the land was pushed down during the last icetime) its harbour got unusable and the new city of Luleå was established nearer the sea. Gammelstad is the best-preserved example of a 'church village', a unique kind of village formerly found throughout northern Scandinavia. The 424 wooden houses, huddled round the early 15th-century stone church, were used only on Sundays and at religious festivals to house worshippers from the surrounding countryside who could not return home the same day because of the distance and difficult travelling conditions. UNESCO added Gammelstad church town to their world heritage list in 1996