Church Town and Church Village Change in the Church Town House design and social function Lars Elenius 1 Church Town and Church Village Church Town and Church Village Change in the Church Town House design and social function Lars Elenius 2 3 Church Town and Church Village Church Town and Church Village Contents Introduction.............................................................. 5 Chapter 3. The individual and the collective ................. 37 A way to meet others ............................................. 38 Chapter 1. Church Town and Church Village .................7 The church cottage as a family memento ..................40 Tradition and modernity ..........................................8 Preserving a heritage ............................................. 42 The Church Town and the need for church cottages .....8 Change and preservation ........................................ 44 Similarity to Gamla Stan in Stockholm ...................... 11 Cooperation and revolt .......................................... 45 Battle for the burghers’ building land ........................12 Threats to the Church Town ................................... 46 A system of timbered houses ...................................17 Memories of the countryside .................................. 47 The Church Town when it was biggest .......................21 The individual and the collective ............................. 48 Chapter 2. Church cottage design ............................... 25 Notes ......................................................................51 Renovations and alterations .................................... 26 References .............................................................. 52 The photo reveals the extension ............................... 27 Photographs and illustrations .................................... 54 The church cottages were never burgher houses ......... 29 Living with the tradition ........................................ 30 Project: More in-depth communication of the World Heritage Site Gammelstad Church Town. Neo-Classicist front doors ...................................... 33 The book is part of a thematic study of Gammelstad Church Town as a World Heritage Site and has been commissioned by museum director Ann Lindblom Berg, the open-air museum Hägnan & Gammelstad Visitor Centre, and the Culture & Recreation Department, Luleå Municipality. Author, project leader and art editor: Lars Elenius. Translator: Paul Fischer, ELEX. Cover photograph: For information about the cover photograph and other photographs and illustrations, see back cover. Graphic form and production: Luleå grafiska tryckeri, Luleå, 2020. Printing: Luleå grafiska tryckeri, Luleå 2020. Project owner: Luleå Municipality. Publisher: Gammelstad Visitor Centre. Funding: The County Administrative Board in Norrbotten County, Luleå Municipality, Region Norrbotten, and the Swedish National Heritage Board. www.visitgammelstad.se © 2020 Gammelstad Visitor Centre, Luleå Municipality, and Lars Elenius. ISBN: 978-91-519-4115-8 4 5 Church Town and Church Village Church Town and Church Village Introduction The World Heritage Site in Gammel- in a scaled-down Norrbotten variant. at the beginning of the 17th century stad consists of the mediaeval church Much research has been done about it actually was a town. It had a town and the many church cottages around church towns, but surprisingly little charter and a burgher community of a lone rocky prominence. When one has been written about the buildings tradesmen and merchants who had watches a tourist bus clumsily zigzag- themselves. Therefore, the focus of moved in. At the same time, from its LARS ELENIUS b. 1952 is Professor Emeritus of ging between the long rows of build- this paper is those buildings. They are origins Gammelstad was a parish cen- History at Luleå University of Technology. His ings it looks as though it has mistak- put in a regional and national context tre. All this affected the Church Town. research includes areas such as ethnicity, minority enly ended up in the wrong century. to spotlight the wider cultural sphere Throughout its existence, the Church policy, nationalism, cultural heritage and regional The meandering lanes and the very that has influenced their construction. Town has been under various types of change in northern Europe. At the beginning of the size of the small cottages give an un- From the very start, the church cot- threats of extinction. The risk of fire 21st century he led a transnational project to write a mistakably mediaeval impression, as tages have been cottages for tempo- was perhaps the most palpable threat, history book and an encyclopaedia on the Barents of course does the enormous church rary stays by farmers from the villag- and in December 1940 large parts of Region. with irregular stonework in a warm es in the parish. Here they stayed with the Church Town were very close to range of colours. Next to this stands their workers at weekends and during burning down. A recurring threat in the white bell tower, like an exclama- church feasts. During the weeks, the the 20th century has been the recur- tion mark stretching skywards. cottages were empty and shuttered. rent plans to modernise. There are more than 400 church In the modern age, the use of the Buildings truly have a soul that re- cottages of varying size. The first church cottages has changed. Through flects their historical context. In Gam- probably appeared as early as the for- interviews with Stefan Ruth, Britta melstad, souls from completely dif- mation of Luleå parish in the 14th Nilsson, Lilja Hjort, Maria Hagel, Åsa ferent centuries come together. The century, but those are no longer here, Lindman, Kristina and Harry Öqvist person who has really helped me un- and have been replaced by new ones. I have heard how different people and derstand the interplay between these They lie in a row along the approach generations have related to the church souls is former municipal historian roads but have also formed narrow cottages. I give special thanks to May- Kaj Bergman. Similarly, the building lanes and passages that closely follow Britt Ruth who with her joy for narra- historians Erica Duvensjö and Mar- the topography around the church. tion gave a living picture of life in the cus Bengtsson and many others have One can in fact compare it to the me- church cottages, but who was unable provided comments. A big thank you diaeval Gamla Stan area of Stock- to see the finished result. to you all! holm, which has a similar structure of One peculiarity about Gammelstad dense hilly alleys. Here we find them Church Town is that for a few decades Lars Elenius 6 7 Church Town and Church Village Church Town and Church Village Already when the parish was formed in the 14th century, there must have been church cottages at the church. The plots on which the cottages stood were and still are owned by the church and are still called “Church Town”. Living patterns changed radically in 1621 when part of the church site was promoted to Luleå town. An area to the east and north was then allocated as building land for the burghers. When, just 30 years later, the town was relocated, the former town area became a church village. The Church Town and the church village have existed side by side ever since. CHAPTER 1 Church Town and Church Village The original nearness of the church cottages to the church is most apparent on the west side of the Church Town, which was least affected by the creation of the town in 1621. Here, the church cottages are close to each other, with narrow alleys and passages between the buildings. 8 9 Church Town and Church Village Church Town and Church Village Tradition and modernity Another peculiarity of the Church The Church Town and the need for originally comprised both the parish- meet the needs of the populace. the tradition of the church cottag- The dense grouping of buildings is Town in Gammelstad is that the cot- church cottages es of Kalix and Råneå, and stretched It is quite clear that the stricter re- es was well established. He wrote that bound to the mediaeval collective. tages were placed along the approach It has been debated when the first from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Nor- quirements on church attendance the farmers of Luleå parish had their Living was similar in the villages too. roads from the different villages. church cottages were built and tak- wegian border. In Catholic times too made by Protestantism increased the own cottages around the church at a Land was not parcelled out. People Home owners from the same village en into use. In his dissertation on there was pressure on the rural popu- need of church cottages for those liv- place they called Berget (the moun- were dependent on each other in a have had their cottages side-by-side, church towns in Northern Sweden, lation to attend Mass. It was then sim- ing farthest away. But this does not tain) and that 2 to 5 people shared way that we find hard to imagine to- thereby creating a microcosm of the Ragnar Bergling suggested that the pler to build a small timber structure gainsay a mediaeval tradition of each cottage.3 Guided by the informa- day. Alongside religion, it was social, parish as a whole.1 This was reinforced word “kyrkstuga” (church cottage) in near the church than to negotiate ac- church towns. The first written re- tion from Bureus and the population economic and psychological needs by the villagers often travelling en the Middle Ages was not used in the commodation with people in