Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
EATING
Odinsborg
Ärnavägen 4
T
018 32 35 25.
Between the
Historical Centre and the church and built in Swedish
National Romantic style, this place serves a Viking spread
(365kr) of chicken and ribs which you eat with your
fingers - you can even dress in period costume. Lunches
available, too.
Mon-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat & Sun
10am-6pm
.
Sigtuna
For additional ancient history, look no further than
SIGTUNA
, 40km south of Uppsala,
a compact little town that dates all the way back to Viking times, with extensive
ruined churches and rune stones right in the centre. Apart from its ruins, it looks like
any other old Swedish town with cobbled streets and squares. Scratch the surface
though, and you'll understand what made Sigtuna so important. Founded in 980 by
King Erik Segersäll, Sigtuna grew from a village to become Sweden's first town.
Fittingly, it contains Sweden's oldest street, Storagatan; the original, laid out during
the king's reign, still lies under its modern-day counterpart. Sigtuna also boasts three
intriguing
ruined churches
dating from the twelfth century. The Sigtuna district also
contains more rune stones than any other area in Sweden - around 150 of them have
been found to date - and several can be seen close to the ruins of the church of St Lars
along Prästgatan.
2
St Per and St Olof
Two of Sigtuna's most impressive ruins, the churches of
St Per
and
St Olof
, lie along
Storagatan itself. Much of the west and central towers of St Per's still remain from
the early 1100s; experts believe it likely that the church functioned as a cathedral
until the diocese was moved to nearby Uppsala (see p.93). The unusual formation of
the vault in the central tower was influenced by church design then current in
England and Normandy. Further east along Storagatan, St Olof 's has impressively
thick walls and a short nave, the latter suggesting that the church was never
completed.
Mariakyrkan
Uppsalavägen 4 • Daily 9am-5pm
Close to the church ruins on Olofsgatan is the very much functioning
Mariakyrkan
,
constructed of red brick during the mid-thirteenth century to serve the local
Dominican monastery. Inside, the walls and ceiling are richly adorned with restored
paintings from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Sigtuna museum
Storagatan 55 • Daily noon-4pm; closed Mon Sept-May • 20kr •
W
sigtunamuseum.se
On the main road, Storagatan, the
Sigtuna museum
includes material on Sigtuna's role
as Sweden's foremost trading centre. Coins bear witness to the fact that this was the
first town in the land to mint coins, in 995, plus there's booty from abroad: gold rings
and even an eleventh-century clay egg, from Kiev.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
SIGTUNA
To reach Sigtuna from Uppsala or Stockholm, take the train
to Märsta, from where
buses
#570 and #575 run the short
distance to the town - the total journey time is around
45min. From Arlanda airport take bus #579.
Destinations
Arlanda (hourly; 25min); Märsta (every
20min; 20min).
INFORMATION
Tourist o
ce
Storagatan 33 (June Mon-Fri 10am-6pm,
Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 11am-5pm; July & Aug Mon-Sat
10am-6pm, Sun 11am-5pm; Sept Mon-Fri 10am-5pm,
Sat & Sun 11am-4pm; Oct-May Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat
11am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm;
T
08 594 806 50,
W
sal.
sigtuna.se/turism).
