|
|
A few kilometers outside of Uppsala is Gamla Uppsala, or "Old" Uppsala. The town site was moved to the present site early in Medieval times because access by boat was too difficult at the original site - the same thing that eventually happened at Uppsala as well. Susan is writing postcards at a restaurant in Gamla Upsala. The drinks are mead, supposedly brewed from the oldest known authentic recipe in Sweden. |
|
|
|
| In this scene are 3 huge burial mounds dating from Viking times. Those that have been excavated revealed the cremated remains of some high-ranking people, probably kings or chieftains - the mounds are called "Kings Mounds." Gamla Uppsala was the last center of pagan power in Scandinavia, and it was here that pagan rituals continued well into the 1100's. Supposedly there was a sacred grove here where the rituals took place; it was here that the first Uppsala Cathedral was built (you can see the roof just above the trees) at the site of the sacred grove. | |
|
|
The first Uppsala cathedral, supposedly built upon the site of the pagan Viking's sacred grove. |
|
|
Nothing goes to waste - a rune stone built into the church foundation. Note the cross, this stone was carved by or made for a Christian. |
|
|
Detail from the rune stone shown above. |
|
|
|
| This might have been the original "Pagan Grove". The birch tree was, and still is, very sacred to Pagans. | |
|
|
Jerry looking over the Mound of Kings. |