Gamla Uppsala Museum

The cradle of old Sweden

Gamla Uppsala — 'Old Uppsala' — lies just north of the modern city of Uppsala, in Sweden's Uppland. In the prehistoric age it was a central point of power in the region that would become Svealand, and it remains one of the most important archaeological sites in Scandinavia.

The Royal Mounds

Its most striking features are the three great burial mounds known as the Kungshögar or Uppsala Mounds, raised, according to archaeology, over regional kings around AD 600. They are among the largest in Sweden. Around them lies a cemetery once thought to contain 200 to 300 graves, and the remains of large longhouses have been found near and beneath the church.

Pagan temple and Christian seat

Gamla Uppsala is believed to have been a religious centre of Norse pagan worship before the country's conversion, associated with the famous Temple of Uppsala described by Adam of Bremen around 1076. As Sweden became Christian the site became first a bishopric and, from 1164, the seat of an archbishop. After a fire in 1252 the archiepiscopal see was moved to nearby Östra Aros — today's Uppsala — and the relics were transferred in 1273, after which Gamla Uppsala's importance declined.

Visiting

Today the mounds, the medieval church and the on-site museum tell the story of the place, where visitors can walk among the monuments that shaped early Swedish history.

• Location: Gamla Uppsala, Uppsala, Uppland, Sweden

• Highlights: Three royal burial mounds (c. AD 600); medieval church; archaeology museum

• History: Pre-Christian cult centre; archiepiscopal seat from 1164

• Status: Major national archaeological site with visitor museum

• Visiting: Open grounds; museum and church open in season