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Helgö

Coordinates: 59°16′43″N 17°40′50″E / 59.278511°N 17.680435°E / 59.278511; 17.680435
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Location of Helgö in Lake Mälaren

Helgö is an island in Ekerö Municipality in Stockholm County, Sweden. Helgö is an island situated in Lake Mälaren. The island's greatest width is about 1.5 km (0.9 mi), it is about 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) long and covers 48 hectares (119 acres).

Excavations at Helgö

Colour photograph of the Helgö Buddha
The Helgö Buddha

The island is perhaps best known for a major archaeological area. The old trading town on Helgö began to emerge around the year 200 AD, 500 years before Birka at Björkö. The first archaeological dig in 1954 uncovered the remains of the early settlement, including a workshop area which attracted international interest. The most notable finds included a small Buddha statuette from North India and a christening scoop from Egypt, both dating from the 6th century. The Indian Buddha statuette, the Irish crozier and the Egyptian Coptic scoop which were found on Helgö, are presently on display in the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm.[1][2]

Kaggeholm Castle

Lars Kagg (1595-1661)

The site where Kaggeholm Palace is located was first mentioned in a land title document in 1287. During the 1500s the farm was owned by members of the families Grip and Bååt. The farm was originally called Vettersjö, but was named by Swedish Count Lars Kagg (1595-1661) who bought the manor during 1647. Kagg was a political ally of King Gustavus Adolphus, a member of the Privy Council of Sweden and Field Marshal during the Thirty Years' War.[3]

The château-style mansion was built in 1725 and designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger. Since 1939 it has been owned by the Swedish Pentecostal movement and is used as a training center by nearby Kaggeholm College.[4]

Royal Swedish Academy volumes

The findings from the excavations at Helgö have been reported in a series of volumes published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities dating with Volume I covering the period 1954–1956. The most recent report was Volume XVII released during 2008.[5]

Images

Kaggeholm castle on Helgö
Road sign to Helgö
Archaeological objects from Helgö
Helgö canal

See also

References

  1. ^ Viking with a Buddha (A Dozen articles on Asian Arts)
  2. ^ The Buddha in Viking Sweden (Beachcombing)
  3. ^ Matrikel öfwer Swea rikes ridderskap och adel
  4. ^ Kaggeholms slott (Kaggeholms folkhögskola) Archived 2010-08-13 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Excavations at Helgö (Kungl. Vitterhetsakademiens)

Further reading

  • Gyllensvärd, Bo (2008) Excavations at Helgö XVII Exotic & Sacral Finds from Helgö (Almqvist & Wiksell) ISBN 978-91-7402-370-1

59°16′43″N 17°40′50″E / 59.278511°N 17.680435°E / 59.278511; 17.680435

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