Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Northern War between Sweden and Russia. Although the white stone exterior topped with
a green onion dome is elegant enough, it's the interior that really impresses; unusually
ornate for the Swedish Orthodox church, nineteenth-century renovators opted for brown
marble hand-painted wall decoration, delicately lit by ornate candle-bearing chandeliers.
The incongruous cannonball by the steps to the pulpit is a replica of the original fired by
the Russians at the church.
Möljen
Turn right out of the train station and cross the narrow canal, Strömmingssundet
(“Herring Sound”), and you'll soon see the small old
harbour
on the right; this area is
known as
Möljen
. Here the wharfside is flanked by a line of red wooden fishermen's
cottages and storehouses, all leaning into the water; it's a popular place for locals to
while away a couple of hours in the summer sunshine, dangling their feet into the
water. The back of the warehouses hides a run of handicraft studios.
7
Fiskarstan
More impressive and much larger than Möljen,
Fiskarstan
(Fishermen's Town), beyond
the
First Hotel Statt
down Storgatan, contains neat examples of the so-called “Imperial”
wood-panel architecture of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was in these
tightly knit blocks of streets, lined with beautiful wooden houses and fenced-in plots of
land, that the fishermen used to live during the winter. Take a peek inside some of the
little courtyards - all window boxes, flowers and cobblestones.
Hälsinglands Museum
Storgatan 31 • Mon & Sat noon-4pm, Tues-Fri 10am-4pm • Free •
W
halsinglandsmuseum.se
The history of the buildings in Fiskarstan is put into context in the excellent
Hälsinglands
Museum
, which traces the development of Hudiksvall as a harbour town since its
foundation. The museum's real showstoppers, however, are the ornately decorated
Malsta
rune stone,
from around 1000 AD, ornately engraved with the letter-less Helsinge runic
script - ask at the museum reception for a translation of the inscription - the expertly
executed Post-Impressionist works by local artist, John Sten (see box below) - and the
quite breathtaking collection of
medieval church art
kept in a dimly lit room, just behind
the café on the ground floor. From altar screens to intricately carved wooden figures of
Sweden's saints, this astounding array of outstanding craftsmanship is sure to impress; the
centrepiece is the early sixteenth-century figure of the Madonna and Child by renowned
local artist Haaken Gulleson, from the village of Fläcka in Hälsingland; his style is easy to
spot - heavy eyelids, ruddy cheeks and a benign expression.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
HUDIKSVALL
By train
The train station is
opposite the bus station on
Stationsgatan, from where it's a 2min walk to the town
centre.
Destinations
Gävle (hourly; 1hr 15min); Stockholm
(hourly; 2hr 30min); Sundsvall (hourly; 50min); Uppsala
(hourly; 1hr 50min).
HÄLSINGLAND'S GAUGUIN: JOHN STEN
If you're visiting the Hälsinglands Museum, be sure also to see the paintings by
John Sten
(1879-1922) on the first floor: born near Hudiksvall, he moved to Paris at the age of 30, where
he was greatly influenced by Post-Impressionist master, Paul Gauguin. Tragically, Sten died of
dysentery at the age of 42 in Bali; like many artists of his day he travelled extensively in
Southeast Asia collecting impressions and designs, and became one of the first to work with
Cubism, from which his work extends towards a more decorative, fanciful style.
