The Viking City and the World Heritage
In Sweden, there are 15 sites, which is considered so precious that they must be included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Birka Hovgarden is one of them. There are a lot of ancient monuments – and still much to discover.
A town was born
In the mid-700’s, a city was born on Björkö in Lake Mälaren named Birka, a location, which is commonly called Sweden’s first town. It is believed that it was the Swedish King who took the initiative to form the city as part of a desire to control the trade in northern Scandinavia, both politically and economically.
The Swedish King himself was living a few kilometers away, at a place called Hovgården on Adelsö. At that time it was the King’s duty to keep order in the city and protect it from being looted.