VIKING MONUMENTS AND SITES / Birka and Hovgården
Part of transnational serial nomination
Birka N59 20 06 E17 32 33
Hovgården N59 21 36 E17 32 00
The Viking serial nomination comprises land-, sea- and townscapes stretching from the North Atlantic to the Baltic Sea. Among the thousands of Viking sites from the eighth to the twelfth centuries AD, these nine nominated properties from six nations are outstanding examples representing the wide diversity of this early maritime culture.
In the Viking Age the Norse peoples - the Vikings - developed a maritime culture which had an enormous impact on Northern Europe and beyond. Within Scandinavia the Viking Period witnessed the transformation from tribal to state societies and a change of religions. The three Christian kingdoms that developed from this transformation, and out of which the present Nordic States evolved, were by the end of the Viking Age an integral part of Europe. Thus, in modern times, Viking culture has contributed significantly to the creation of cultural coherence, symbolic values and cultural identity in the Nordic region and it continues to hold immense public appeal world-wide. This culture and its heritage developed in close interaction within a unique natural environment. It is composed of distinctive urban landscapes and monuments. The culture also produced one of the world's great literatures: the Sagas, Eddic poetry and runic inscriptions.
Harnessing the technology of the ship, Nordic peoples used the sea for expansion, exploration, long-distance trade and overseas settlement. The travels of the Vikings brought them across the Baltic Sea and down the Russian rivers as far as the Black and Caspian Seas to Byzantium and the Caliphate of Baghdad, as well as west out into the Atlantic. They were the first to settle in Iceland and the first Europeans to reach Greenland and North America about 1000 AD. In so doing, the Vikings were the first people to succeed in opening routes across the northern hemisphere from North America to Asia, thus connecting different cultural regions of the earth. Adapted to very diverse types of natural environments, success was on the one hand in the use, and at times ecological misuse, of regional resources, and, on the other hand, in the development of social and political systems. This combination formed the basis for a rich cultural region. Internally, Scandinavia witnessed an economic, religious and social transformation aided by a boom in internal and cross-cultural communication during the Viking period. New institutions were developed, smaller regions were merged into larger units and the Scandinavians took part in European development on a larger scale. Scandinavia at the time of King Knut, in the early 11th century, was vastly different from the Scandinavia that was visited by the missionary Ansgar in the early 9th century.
The component parts cover a wide temporal and spatial range. They are of exceptional quality and diversity. They include trading towns, harbours, defensive structures, production sites, burial monuments, and assembly sites. Viewed as a whole these sites bear witness to the extent of Viking social and cultural development.
DESCRIPTION OF COMPONENT PART
The archaeological site of the proto-town Birka and the nearby royal estate of Hovgården together form an almost unique site, the greatest and most impressive Viking-age site in Sweden and, perhaps, in Scandinavia. They lie on two islands in the lake Mälar, ca 30 km W of Stockholm.
The earliest known Christian congregation in Sweden is known to have been founded in Birka by St Ansgar in 831.
Birka on the western part of the ca 1,5 x 2 km big island Björkö is today visible through its hillfort, the town rampart and ca 3000 grave mounds on cemeteries surrounding the black Earth, the cultural debris with the remnants of the Viking-age settlement. Contemporary jetties and harbours lie along the shoreline.
Since 1931, the conservation programme for the site has restored the 19th century agricultural landscape, a prototype for all ancient monuments' conservation in Sweden.
Birka is connected to the nearby Hovgården/Alsnöhus site on the Adelsö island. This Viking-age and medieval royal estate lies at the Adelsö church with a number of great mounds, a cemetery, a contemporary harbour with a runic stone and the foundations for a 13th century brick palace on the top of a built-up mound of soil.
The runic text mentions an 11th century king Håkon, his bailiff and the upplandic district Roden. The site is a well-known meeting-place for the medieval Royal Council which in 1279 decided here about the feudal system in Sweden.
Birka and Hovgården is the center of the unique and well preserved historical landscape of the Lake Mälaren area containing thousands of Viking Age settlements, visible cemeteries and several thousand rune stones. Hovgården is one of several Viking Age and Medieval royal manors whose importance in the administrative infrastructure is expressed in monumental burial mounds and cemeteries. Birka is a multi-cultural urban society and the center linking this region with the international network of market places and towns which began to be established under Carolingian leadership during the 700s. At Birka, raw materials such as furs and metals were collected for trade with Western Europe, and craftsmen from the Rhineland area established themselves as the suppliers of their products to Birka's surrounding area. After the mid-800s, the eastern routes to Byzantium and Bagdad were opened and the Russian taiga zone became the main fur-producing area. Rich evidence of these eastern contacts is found both at Birka and Hovgården and in the graves in Birka's large hinterland. Birka was part of an extensive social and economic infrastructure including Western Europe, the Caliphate and Byzantium which is expressed in weight systems and coinage.
Birka's role as one of the most important early marketplaces/towns of this kind is expressed not least in the early urban legislation which is known in the Nordic area as Bjärköa- or Birkerätt (Bjärköa or Birke Law). Birka was also one of the first known targets for early Christian missions during the 800s through the work of Saint Anskar.
Justification de la Valeur Universelle Exceptionelle
The selection of sites bears an exceptional testimony to a unique cultural tradition in which the ship became the essential feature. Due to the natural environment of lakes, rivers and sea the use of waterways and the development of navigational skills had a long tradition. In the Viking Age ship technology was taken to a new level. Vikings were the first to settle in Iceland and the first Europeans to reach Greenland and North America about 1000 AD. In so doing, the Vikings were the first people to succeed in opening routes across the North Atlantic to North America and eastward to the Russian Plain and Byzantium, connecting continents and cultural regions. Internally, Scandinavia witnessed an economic, religious and social transformation aided by a boom in internal and cross-cultural communication during the Viking period. The component parts represent key attributes of Viking culture while the ship is the common feature throughout. In modern times, Viking culture has contributed significantly to the creation of cultural coherence, symbolic values and cultural identity in the Nordic region, and it continues to hold immense public appeal world-wide. The component parts demonstrate clearly the key features; expansion, cultural communication and a strong narrative tradition past and present.
Satements of authenticity and/or integrity
Birka on the western part of the ca 1,5 x 2 km big island Björkö is today visible through its hillfort, the town rampart and ca 3000 visible grave mounds on cemeteries surrounding the black Earth, the cultural debris with the remnants of the Viking-age settlement. Contemporary jetties and harbours lie along the shoreline. Birka is connected to the nearby Hovgården/Alsnöhus site on the Adelsö island. This Viking-age and medieval royal estate lies at the Adelsö church with a number of great mounds, a cemetery, a contemporary harbour with a runic stone and the foundations for a 13th century brick palace on the top of a built-up mound of soil.
Comparison with other similar properties
The transnational project unites properties already appointed as Viking Age World Heritage with the newly nominated sites of Danevirke and Hedeby as well as Grobiņa, the Danish fortresses, the Vestfold burial mounds and Hyllestad quern stone quarry. They all rank among the most important historical places in the Viking Age and have moreover, as archaeological sites, contributed essential insights into Scandinavian culture of this period. In this period the Nordic region developed from being a peripheral zone of Europe to being an integrated component of the Christian West. Of exceptional value is the good condition of preservation displayed by the project's combined monuments, ideally complemented by Old Iceland's rich supply of written records and by other outstanding archaeological finds such as the ships from Gokstad, Oseberg and Roskilde. Corresponding nominations for the period between the 8th and the 12th century AD have to date not been represented on the World Heritage List.
For the component part:
Birka has to be seen against the context of the other emporia of this period, from Staraya Ladoga to Dublin. The only sites that are comparable with Birka in terms of degree of conservation and accessibility are Hedeby/Haithabu (Germany) and to a lesser extent Dorestad (Netherlands). Most of the others, such as Ribe, Aarhus, Hamburg, York, and Dublin, are beneath the existing towns and cities. The wealth and diversity of the material excavated at Birka indicates that it was one of the most important sites of this group.