UNESCO Heritage Sites

Visby is an outstanding example of a north European medieval walled trading town which preserves with remarkable completeness a townscape and assemblage of high-quality ancient buildings that illustrate graphically the form and function of this type of significant human settlement. The urban fabric and overall townscape of Visby is its most important quality. By virtue of its position, Gotland has played a dominant role in Baltic trade for many centuries between Western Europe and Russia. Excavations have indicated that there was a trading settlement in the early Viking Age on the site of Visby. Continent: Europe Country: Sweden Category: Cultural Criterion: (IV)(V) Date of Inscription: 1995

Seven timber houses are listed in this site located in the east of Sweden, representing the zenith of a regional timber building tradition that dates back to the middle Ages. Decorated Farmhouses of Halsingland reflect the prosperity of independent farmers who used their wealth in the 19th century to build substantial new homes with elaborately decorated ancillary houses or suites of rooms reserved for festivities. The paintings represent a fusion of folk art with the styles favoured by the landed gentry of the time, including Baroque and Rococo. Decorated by painters, including known and unknown itinerant artists, the listed properties represent the final flowering of a long cultural tradition. Continent: Europe Country: Sweden Category: Cultural Criterion: (V) Date of Inscription: 2012