Västerås Off The Beaten Path

I am rather fascinated by the Vikings and the traces that they left here in Sweden. Maybe it is because I live so close to a Viking site that I am so intrigued by it. Here are some links to my and Åkes pages where we have written a bit more about the Vikings:

- Sigurdsristning at Sundbyholm
- Anundshög at Västerås
- The most famous of all runestones in Rök
- The Vikings by Åke

Not far from the Anundshög mound is this amazing labyrinth. It is not clear what it was used for, but it is thought it might have been used to put a girl in the middle and a boy then had to find his way through the labyrinth to marry her.

Just outside Västerås, on the eastside of the city, is one of Sweden’s most remarkable ancient monuments : Anundshög. Anundshög is a royal tomb from the 6th century, the largest of its kind in Sweden. It's a fantastic place to visit, hahaha if you are into these kinds of places that is. Some of you might describe it as dull, but I found this place so fascinating! You will get close to part of the life of the Vikings.
Nearby to the burial-mound of Anundshög there are a number of large grave mounds which indicates that this was an important meeting place for several centuries. There are also two very large stone-ships, graves in the shape of a Viking long ship. And last, but not least, there is also a runic stone from the middle of the 11th century.

There are signs from Västerås that direct you to Anundshög, so this historical site is not that difficult to find.

During the summer months there are guided tours at Anundshög. The walks take about 1,5 hour and are in the months of June, Juli and August. I haven't been on a guided tour yet, but if you are in the area that time of year it might be interesting to check it out. You can get more info about the tours at the tourist office in Västerås, or read about it (like I did) at this sign at Anundshög.
The amazing thing I found about it is that it is for FREE! Hahaha, I just been on vacation to Norway and it felt that I had to pay for everything I saw or did. But not in Sweden! A historic place like Anundshög is for free, the parking is for free, and now it turns out even the guided tour is for free! I just couldn't believe my eyes! But it's great though! Hopefully I can go on a guided tour next summer as I am getting more and more interested in the Vikings, their way of living and the historic sites that are still here in this area.

Some interesting websites if you want to read more about Anundshög and stone-ships :
* How Anundshög was build
* More Stone- and Shipsettings

I found this quite an interesting map, you have to click on to be able to see it though. The map shows some important sites for the Vikings in the area of Mälaren. Anundshög (where we are now) is on this map, and this location is included in the European Council's Viking Route. There are other locations in Mälardalen included in the Viking Route, the nearest being Sigurdsristningen. And at the Sigurdsristningen is where I live now! This important historic place is only a 10 minutes walk from my home. There is lots about these rock carving (the Sigurdsristningen) on my Sundby page. So if you are interested in the Vikings or runic stones this is a page you shouldn’t miss!
Other interesting places on this map are Birka and Sigtuna, both are still on my travel wish list, but I hope to go there next summer. The Vikings were real tradesmen and travelled all over the globe. There are traces of them from Canada in the west to Russia in the east.

This is me climbing up the burial-mound I mentioned in the previous tip. Behind me you can see two of the five stone-ships at Anundshög. The two stone-ships you see here are the biggest and most impressive ones.

The stone-ships are amazing in size and in way they are build. The stones are placed in a perfect symmetry around the major axis and it amazes me how they did that. The sides of the ships take the form of bow shaped arcs. The wider of the two ships is 50.8 meters long and 24.7 meters wide, which makes it exactly half as wide as it is long. From the top of the hill you have an excellent view over these two stone-ships.

Anundshög is Sweden's biggest burial-mound. This photo is taken from the stone-ships towards the burial-mound. The burial mound is maybe a bit more visible in the photo about the runic stone, but I have to admit that none of the photos do it real justice. The burial mound is huge! Anundshög itself is about 14 meters high and has a diameter of 60 meters, which makes it the greatest grave-mound in Sweden.
One thing you have to do is climb up the burial-mound; you can either take the stairs on the backside of the hill, hahaha, or be foolish, like me, and climb up the hill on the front side. The burial-mound is quite steep, so that makes it quite a climb ;-) Climbing up here though makes you realize how big the burial-mound really is and gives you a fantastic view over the stone-ships.

The burial-mounds were probably built over cremation sites, where the dead body was cremated together with the burial gifts. It is unknown who was buried here, but it was probably a very important man; perhaps a king.

The first thing I want to show you is the runic stone at Anundshög. When you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see the inscriptions on the stone much better. The stone is quite large, I don't know the exact size, but it is well over 2,5 meters high. The runic stone was erected during the first half of the 11th century and bears the inscription:
"Folkvid erected all these stones in honour of his son Heden, the brother of Anund. Vred carved the runes."

Folkvid was a prominent man in Badelunda and he paid for this runic stone. The remarkable thing about this runic stone is its unique engraved picture, which maybe shows a man and a woman holding each other tightly.

In the background of the picture, behind the runic stone, you can see the burial mound.