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When
Foteviken is populated it is easy to feel sent a thousand years
back in time
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Hardly
any other place in Scandinavia it is possible to be so close to
the original atmosphere in the Viking age as in Foteviken Viking
Reserve in the South of Sweden.
The
area is not urbanized with museum construction but grown in an
almost organic way like villages did before city planning became
modern. In the season when the houses are inhabited there is a
special atmosphere of history and cultural heritage.
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To
enter the reserve you need to pass the opening of the palisade
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Foteviken
consist of 22 Viking and middle age houses surrounded by a bank.
The main part are the sort of town houses known from Haiti and
other places.
They
are build as a cooperation with private people who had influence
on the interior and also use the houses as a sort of holyday houses. The
citizens are organized in the Village Community and have the
feeling of being citizens of Foteviken. So it is not unfair for
Foteviken to call itself the only still existing Viking
reservation.
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The
houses are occupied by people who often has also been involved in
building them and for whom Foteviken has become a part of their
life
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Apart
from the reservation Foteviken also includes a sort of museum
about Viking age. Even though Sweden has a lot of Viking finds and
history the South of the country is primary connected to Danish
Viking history. Foteviken is placed where Harold Bluetooth is
assumed to have a winter harbour and the place is close to the
town of Trelleborg which is well-known for its circular fortress
of almost the same kind as the Danish Trelleborg
and Fyrkat. Further North a similar
fortress has been found in Borgeby near the city of Lund.
Every
year Foteviken arranges a great Viking market. It attracts Vikings
from many countries. Apart from Scandinavia Vikings from about 15
countries come here, among them Germany, Poland and Russia.
Practical
information
Both the Viking Reserve and the museum can be seen on working days all
year round.
The
museum is not a traditional museum. Rather an exhibition of things
that is used in the archaeological work. If you come outside the
season it might be a good idea to ensure that someone is there to
explain what you see.
The
reserve is most interesting in the summer season when there is activities
and people living in the houses. On the other hand in low season it is
free to take a walk in the reservation.
Fotevikens
Vikingareservat and Fotevikens Museum
Museivägen 24
S-236 22 Höllviken
Sweden
tel. (+46) (0)40-330 800
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