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 nearby cord of the Church Town is in 1600 of the parish at the same time, the his- that lay behind the emergence of masse to the church. present-day sense. Based on strictly villages. The church site in Luleå par- when the director-general of the Cen- torian Maurits Nyström has estimat- church towns. They reflect a need for Seen separately, the individual etymological analysis he then assert- ish was not a village – it was a parish tral Board of National Antiquities Jo- ed that there must have been between community at village level among the church cottage would not be impos- ed that we cannot determine wheth- centre. There were no homes to stay hannes Bureus visited the church site 200 and 300 church cottages around population, and a longing to meet the ing. It was often a Spartan structure, er church towns existed before the at, only the rectory, which could not of Luleå parish. We see that even then the church on Berget.4 rest of the region's population to ex- with a simple heat source. Beneath the 16th century. In Bergling’s opinion, we To arrive at several hundred church change gossip, do business or find a red layer of panelling there was of- know hardly anything about mediae- cottages by the year 1600, construc- marriage partner. ten a timber building. The furnishings val church customs. He put forward tion must have gone on for more than were simple and functional in keep- instead the sentiments of the Church 30 years. Behind each church cottage ing with the temporary nature of the Ordinance of 1571, which made strict- there were one or more home own- accommodation in the church cottag- er demands on attendance at church ers who had to reach agreements re- es. The narrow alleys and the irregular services and Communion, and on the garding construction. Stables for the placement of the church cottages rein- introduction of controls and sanc- horses also had to be built. Bergling force their antiquity. tions in a more systematic way.2 But himself also states that the number of Quite close to the dense mini-ur- it is highly doubtful whether the new permanent buildings was very con- banisation around the church stand church ordinance alone could have stant from the 1540s until the 1620s, modern blocks of flats and detached been the driving force behind the when we have access to compara- houses built of brick or sturdy wood construction of the cottages. tive statistics. Neither was there a dif- panelling. Car parks as well as low ter- We must start by assuming that the ference in road standards and travel raced houses lie embedded in the core masons and carpenters who built the times. He summarises that churchgo- area and the railway passes not too far churches must have had some form ers at the major church feasts in me- away. The modern goes arm in arm of simple overnight accommodation diaeval times had to bank on having with this Church Town weighed down near the church construction site. This lodgings in “the church village” or in by tradition. It is in this transition be- applies in particular to the large stone the nearest villages.5 Despite his re- Down the centuries, church cottages have been altered, relocated or demolished. New tween tradition and modernity, be- church, where work continued for alisation of the need for the church building materials have been added at the tween the collective and the individu- decades in the 15th century. We know Until 1693, Greater Luleå parish stretched from the coast up to the Norwegian border. After cottages in mediaeval times, it seems same time as timber constructions have been al, we interpret the design and today’s also what Luleå parish looked like ge- 1831, Nederluleå parish remained at the coast, which in 1969 formed the present-day Luleå as though Bergling is too reliant on preserved. use of church cottages. ographically in mediaeval times. It Municipality together with the lower part of Råneå Municipality and Luleå town. the assumption that church towns

10 11 Church Town and Church Village Church Town and Church Village emerged due to the Protestant church for church cottages near the church attendance requirement after 1571. and the emergence of a Church Town. We must not underestimate the will to meet people from other villages Similarity to Gamla Stan and the enjoyment it brought. From in Stockholm the interviews carried out regarding The trader farmers in the villages Church Town customs in the begin- around Gammelstad who were called ning of the 20th century, it is appar- birkarlar became specialised in mak- ent that social importance was attrib- ing annual trips up the Lule River Val- uted to meetings at the church. Here ley to trade with the Sámi, but also people got to know other villagers, specialised in distributing Lappmark developed contacts for the future, did In 1827, the so-called calfskin priest Nils Johan Ekdahl visited Gammelstad and made a draw- products on a profitable market. The business and sought marriage part- ing of the church. It was then painted red and the present-day white bell tower had not yet been lucrative market was not among the ners. The small church cottages were built. surrounding local population, but invaluable in making contact with among the middle-class burghers people living in the parishes, not only closer than 10 km from the church to the decree.6 They kept their cottag- of Stockholm, Turku, Reval (Tallin) in observing mandatory church at- own a church cottage. It is not with- es because they wanted to stay in the and other major cities. The mediae- At Skeppsbron in Gamla Stan, sailing ships from the whole of Europe moored. The trader tendance. As early as 1817, a decree out significance that the farmers in Church Town for longer than the time val trader farmers in Norrbotten were farmers of Norrbotten had their usual moorings at Fiskartorget, a square between present-day was passed forbidding those living the closest villages refused to obey the church service took. The need for therefore a mobile population and Brunnsgränd and Nygränd. physical contact between the people also bought properties in Gamla Stan. of the parish and those of the villages For example, in the 1488 land regis- The north Swedish salmon traders nevertheless say that the church towns was not less in the Middle Ages than ter of real estate for Stockholm town, and Bothnia men had their moorings had an urban character. They drew in- it is today – on the contrary. a dispute was settled regarding the es- in Gamla Stan at Fisketorget, which habitants from different parts of the In all probability, the first church tate of the deceased Hans Laurens- lay roughly between modern-day parish to a neutral place where all cottages were built at the time of the son of Björsbyn in Luleå parish, his Brunnsgränd and Nygränd, overlook- sorts of mutual issues were dealt with. first wooden church, and three centu- personal property and real estate in ing Skeppsholmen Island. For trad- This densely-built shared accommo- ries later they numbered 200-300. It Stockholm and Björsbyn, as well as er farmers in Luleå parish, the clos- dation also gave an urban atmosphere was no more remarkable to build an salmon fishing rights in Torneå. Two est thing to middle-class life were the that differed from everyday life in the overnight cottage at the church than years later, a dispute was settled be- burghers they met in Gamla Stan. village. One can also note that both to build one at a summer pasture or a tween Peder Laurensson and Jöns There were more similarities than Gamla Stan and Gammelstad came fishing spot. It is worth re-emphasis- Nielsson from Bensbyn, both of Luleå one immediately realises between into being during the Middle Ages. ing that the church was not built adja- parish. The dispute regarded owner- Gammelstad and Gamla Stan. It is This means that the mediaeval dense- cent to an existing village, but stand- ship rights to half a house in Stock- true, the Church Town was not an ur- ness of the structures creates a similar ing alone at a crossroads. The lack of holm.7 The examples give some idea of ban area for year-round dwelling. It feel of ancient urban planning. When It is estimated that in 1600 there were up to 300 church cottages in Gammelstad. They lay homesteads that could offer accom- how close the ties were between trad- filled a need for temporary dwelling walking around in the confined alleys along the approach roads and at the narrow alleys around the church. modation made more urgent the need ers in Luleå parish and Stockholm. for farmers attending church. One can of Gammelstad, one can get the feel-

12 13 Church Town and Church Village Church Town and Church Village

too there was limited space when the the main approach roads like “a rib- number of church cottages grew. A cage of roads”. The narrow passage be- coastline map of the area from 1300 tween church cottages is called a smog Prästgården shows that a deep bay cut in from the in the Luleå dialect, which carries river on the west side of the church. It the meaning a narrow path between De första kyrkstugorna lay very close to the height on which houses.9 In this way an organical- the church was built. As late as the ly-built Church Town emerged, with Kyrkan 1680s, the area where the bay had lain mediaeval characteristics. was called Storblötgärdan (Big Wet The Royal Surveyor Olof Bureus de- Enclosure), an area that was hard- limited the site for the new town to ly suitable to build church cottag- an area north and east of the church. es on. North of the church hill there The area measured only 200 times was formerly a sound that linked the 300 metres but was considered suf- 0 200 400 m Lule River to Gammelstadsviken bay. ficient. There, large square building In 1300, the hill where the church was to be built was very closely surrounded by water both to Even though the area was dry land in plots were staked out for the burgh- the west and the east. North of it lay waterlogged ground. This forced the farmers to build the the 14th century, maps from the 1640s er class that was to move in and build church cottages densely packed like in Gamla Stan in Stockholm. show that it largely consisted of fields homesteads. The mediaeval Church of sedge.8 On the road between the Town was thereby broken up. Those ing of strolling in a Norrbotten vari- ed to the topography. The reason why church and the rectory in the north- whose church cottages were with- ant of Gamla Stan in Stockholm. structures were so densely placed in east, for a long time there was a bridge in the planned town quarters had to Another similarity is the dense mediaeval Stockholm was that the is- over the most waterlogged area. dismantle their timbered buildings built-up structure which is connect- land that was built on was so little. In The farmers were obliged to build and move them to the outskirts to the the 13th and 14th centuries, the coast- densely to have room, just as they north and the north-east. It was above line in Gamla Stan ran just below the were in Gamla Stan in Stockholm. all the people of Råneå and villages elliptical surrounding Västerlånggatan in the northern coastal area that were The dense urban-like structure is most apparent on the west side of the Church Town. On fields and Österlånggatan. Along those two Battle for the burghers’ building land affected, since by tradition they had in the background lay the previously water-filled bay as marked on the map from the year 1300. streets, the original city wall ran right Living patterns in the Church Town their church cottages north and east next to the water. As glacial rebound changed radically when part of the of the church. ed locally in the coastal area (trader The first housing register for the progressed and the swelling of the church site was “promoted”, becoming The new town quarter was planned farmers) or were specialised in trade burgher quarter from 1623 includes shores continued, more land was cre- the town of Luleå. Before the forma- as large square homestead plots. Al- with the Sámi (Birkarl traders). To two mayors, 10 aldermen and 27 ated for building plots and buildings. tion of the town, the farmers had ini- ready in the town charter it can be possess burgher privileges meant one “commoner” burghers. They had However space was initially limited. It tially built their church cottages spon- seen that the burghers in the town was able to pursue trade or craft in the amassed a large number of buildings The bay that lay west of the Church Town went through all the stages from bog to ar- was necessary to build in a dense and taneously along the approach roads. quarters were to combine agricul- town. Burghers were free of the farm- for various purposes. The dwelling able land during the long shoaling process. crowded way to accommodate the fast Continued building then expanded to ture with trade, just as they did when ers’ obligation to transport people register lists cottages, earth cottages, Therefore no church cottages were built growing population. the sides in circles around the church. they lived in the villages. Those who but were obliged to arrange hostelries gate houses, overnight cottages, cel- there. At the church site of Luleå parish Narrow alleys and paths connected moved in were farmers who trad- with transport services in the town. lars, storehouses, boathouses, stables

14 15 Church Town and Church Village Church Town and Church Village and even a bath house. In the new- the following 20 years it was probably ly formed urban quarter they erect- a matter of negotiation from case to ed similar houses as they had at their case. Some burghers kept their farm- homesteads. In the two years that had steads even though at the time the passed since the town formation they town was moved they had been giv- had in all begun or completed 154 dif- en new building plots in Luleå. Others ferent buildings, of which seven were sold up or moved their main build- The grid pattern of boathouses.10 In principle, a num- ings to the new Luleå while keep- large farmhouses ber of farms were built close together. was drawn up ing the church cottages. Those who This is what Luleå looked like when it when the town was still had empty plots cited ownership was situated in present-day Gammel- formed in 1621. On rights and would only hand them over stad. surveyor Lars Peter for payment. The poor harbour conditions in Bergner’s map of The question was again raised in Gammelstad from Gammelstadsviken however meant 1817, we see that 1686 when the rural population com- that after only 30 years the town was church cottages had plained direct to the Crown. Now moved 10 km south to its present lo- now been built ad- their criticism was more concrete. In cation. Now most of the burghers dis- jacent to the burgh- their opinion, the burghers had been mantled their buildings and what re- er plots. The green given a new site for the town in Luleå markings signify mained were abandoned plots in a and there received new building plots. herb gardens. Church Town which was overcrowd- The plots that were parcelled for burghers when the town was formed in 1621 were large farm ed. Following the relocation of the plots which had space for cattle sheds, stores, granaries, hay barns and other buildings that town, the contrast between the oth- belong to an ordinary farm. Here we see the hostelry courtyard around the year 1900, before the When the burghers left erwise dense church cottage commu- outbuildings were completely destroyed in the fire of 1940. their plots in Gammelstad nity and the abandoned plots must after 1649 and moved have been a thorn in people's sides, were put forward then that the burgh- to the new Luleå, but wanted the town the buildings to the new especially those who had been forced ers had taken all the sites around to remain in Gammelstad. He aimed Luleå, gaps appeared in to move their church cottages to the the church so there was no room for sharp criticism at the burghers urg- the town plan. We can compare with the plots lower part of Gamla Hamngatan or to farmers to build church cottages. ing relocation. The County Gover- east of the church after the eastern limit of the Church Town. The critical issues were certain- nor’s answer to the farmers’ question the big fire of 1940. The Fairly soon, the farmers started asking ly connected to the dispute that was about burgher plots was noncommit- hostelry with the burned whether the old burgher plots should ongoing just then within the burgh- tal and unclear. The County Sheriff down courtyard can be now be parcelled for church cottage er class about the location of the new and his assistants would see to it that seen farthest to the right. It is understandable plots, as they had been before the Luleå after the great fire of 1657 in no injustice was visited upon the ru- that farmers in the 17th town was formed. The issue was first the newly-built town. A group of less ral population and see to it that old century wanted to build brought up at the regional council wealthy burghers led by Erik Nilsson traditions were followed, but what church cottages on the meeting in Piteå in 1663. Complaints Sundman did not want to move back that meant was not apparent.11 Over large abandoned plots.

16 17 Church Town and Church Village Church Town and Church Village

Nevertheless they took payment for one wanting a building plot in Gam- to obtain burgher plots on which to to have led to the boundaries between the old plots in Gammelstad as if the melstad. This led to a precedent which build new church cottages, little seems church village and Church Town con- land had been inherited. The peo- would remain in place until the mod- to have happened. Surveyor Hackzell’s stantly being breached and ownership ple wanted to know if that was real- ern age. The former burgher plots be- map from 1737 instead shows that conditions becoming unclear. In that ly right. The Crown replied that the gan to be regarded as private plots many church cottage plots and burgh- way, the church village and Church County Governor would make a de- with proprietorship rights and came er plots from that time were turned Town became interwoven. cision on the issue, but laid down that to form the church village. The church into arable land. Also in the north- the burghers who had invested labour cottages plots were still owned by the ern, north-eastern and eastern part A system of timbered houses in cellars and similar should reason- church, so that if one bought a church of the previously planned town area, The first picture of the Church Town ably be given compensation for the cottage from someone it was still on arable land had been broken.13 It was in Gammelstad is that drawn by Gus- work they had put into their plots.12 church land. It was that part of the above all the outlying areas that were tav Läw in 1695. It was a model for the That was as far as the instructions church site that was called the Church put under the plough and turned into etchings of all Sweden's towns that the went, which meant that the burghers Town. meadows, while the large central plots architect and military man Eric Dahl- continued to take payment for any- Despite the farmers’ petitioning were kept as large courtyard build- berg made in the monumental work ings. Suecia antiqua et hodierna, which Eventually a number of new burgh- translates as “Sweden past and pres- er houses and church cottages were ent”. Läw’s drawing is skilfully and ar- built adjacent to the large farm plots. tistically executed. He has made ef- The houses that were built could end forts to carefully render the diversity up both on church land and town of buildings even though they are land. In the report of 1817 on owner- drawn to uniform patterns. ship conditions in the Church Town About 30 of the buildings are drawn and the church village, one can see without chimneys. Most of them lie for example that tailor Landström on the outskirts, and they can be in- had built his three-roomed cottage on terpreted as being barns, stables or former church cottage plots, which other farm buildings. It is interest- in fact belonged to the church es- ing to note that he has drawn most tate. Granary and outhouses howev- church cottages with either one or er were built on burgher plots and be- two chimneys. That corresponds to longed to the town. On Landström’s the combination of single and shared plot there was also a field that was church cottages that could be seen worked by some people from the new 125 years later. On the west side of the Luleå town, which shows that a num- church, which was the side unaffect- In 1695, Artillery Lieutenant Gustav Läw came to Gammelstad to draw the town for a large en- The church cottage is based on the simplest type of timber building which took over from the ber of town dwellers still owned plots ed by the town formation and which cyclopaedia on Swedish towns. His drawing is the first realistic picture of the Church Town. In longhouses of the Viking age. It had a single room with fireplace. Johan Fredrik Östling in church for cultivation in Gammelstad.14 The comprised almost solely church cot- the burgher quarter one can see smoke billowing out of the chimneys of those who lived year cottage 121 in 1926. unclear ownership conditions seem tages, one can see two somewhat round in the church village.

18 19 Church Town and Church Village Church Town and Church Village larger houses with three chimneys. ga was kept cold. Then one arrived in join two enkelstuga buildings with a term for a small part of the förstu- On the east side, a large house dom- the heated room which was the stuga shared förstuga. The cold förstuga was ga has been elevated to an owner- inates in the background, which has itself. The next stage was to close off used jointly. From there, an entrance ship term for part of a church cottage. a square window with small panes at a smaller room in the förstuga, which led to each owner’s main section. Now There can be up to four kammare one end, and two large chimneys bil- was called kammare (chamber). It each section of the church cottage chambers in a single church cottage. lowing smoke. It may well be the hos- could be used as a bedroom but was came to be called kammare to indicate In turn, each kammare can be owned telry that is marked in that way. Near- often a store. that they were separate dwelling units. by several part-owners. This means by there are two houses that each have This simple timber cabin or stu- This applies to this day. that a church cottage can be owned by three chimneys. Its long side towards ga recurs in different variants in the The building as a whole is called up to a dozen part-owners, and in the the church, there stands an extended Church Town. It was called enkelstu- kyrkstuga (church cottage), while matter of the estate of a deceased per- oblong house with two chimneys that ga (single stuga).15 A very common each dwelling section is called kam- son, even more. To avoid confusing seem to signal a farmhouse in a group variant was for one or more owners to mare. That which was originally a the terms in this article, the biggest of farm buildings around a courtyard. Smoke is coming out of the chimneys of many houses in the burgher quar- ter – but not from any of the houses on the west side. The church cottages in Gammelstad are remarkably similar in size. With The single cottage on the picture was built of timber with six joints, see plan below. Traditionally, few exceptions, they are single-sto- stones were used for steps, often parts of millstones. rey, with either one or two entranc- es. The layout is based on the simplest prise a flat stone in the middle of the a room with an open, brick fireplace. form of timber cabin which was called room and a smoke hole through the In view of the climate, this stuga was a stuga – originally comprising a sin- ceiling. It was then called an eldhus then extended by the addition of gle room and fireplace. In the early (“fire house”) and was used for cook- smallish room called förstuga, nowa- Based on a single cottage, Middle Ages the fireplace could com- ing. Eventually, stuga came to mean days shortened to farstu. The förstu- the variation in layout was great. In many cases, two households have a church Cottage Porch Chamber The single cottage did not have a cottage with a shared en- förstuga but a covered roof that trance and förstuga. The extended some way in front of the förstuga doors then lead to door. The next phase was to build separate sections. In other a cold förstuga porch one entered cases, there are two en- before entering the warmed cot- trances with a dividing wall tage. Finally a kammare was added between them. The separate inside the förstuga. The church part in a church cottage that cottages in Gammelstad basically is partially shared is called a use that layout. kammare.

20 21 Church Town and Church Village Church Town and Church Village room in a church cottage is called the ronment where people from differ- main room. The kammare is called ent areas met for cultural exchanges skrubb (cubbyhole) when used as a and were influenced by the ideas of store or sovkammare (sleeping cham- others. On the other hand the villag- ber) when used for that purpose. ers’ collective living in their particu- There were climate-related rea- lar quarters was more reminiscent of sons for building small church cottag- the migrants’ situation in quarters like es. When people arrived at the cot- Chinatown or Irishtown in Chica- tage in winter, it was cold. With an go. Here people from entire parishes open fireplace in the only dwelling regularly gathered with the addition space a small cottage could be quick- to each other and in addition jointly of people from other parts, but they ly warmed. Another reason, previ- owned church cottages, special town lived in a cluster according to which ously mentioned was that in the early quarters for different villages were village and which part of the parish Middle Ages the church site in Gam- created. The villages in this way con- they belonged to. This reinforced the melstad was surrounded by water on centrated and reinforced their village sense of village community. several sides. The dry area of build- identity in the encounter with oth- In an investigation from 1817 there In the porch on the south side of the church, ing land was limited to the church the year 1616 is engraved in the door. It was er villages during church feasts and were 488 church cottages with 700 17 hill itself, which made it necessary to In 1817 there were over a thousand buildings in Gammelstad. The oil painting by Otto Hessel- probably made for the visit of Archbishop fairs. This gave a contradictory char- owners from the whole parish. Of build on a small scale to have room bom is from 1883–1884. The locomotive in the middle of the picture indicates that the railway Petrus Kenicius, which took place the same acter to the Church Town. On the them, 63% were owned by single indi- for more church cottages. It may also to Luleå was being built. It was inaugurated in 1888. year. The strap hinge ends with a five-fin- one hand it was a sort of urban envi- viduals. Diagram 1 shows how church have been the case that the mediaeval gered leaf. norm was followed that meant build- ter-dependent church cottages mini- the economic reports of the parish Diagram 1. Ownership shares in church cottages and stables in Gammelstad, 1817. ings were placed close in both villages mised for ever the size of the cottages from the 17th century and onwards church cottages that pre-date the 18th 350 and towns. whether they were newly built or show us that a timber building could century. Most are probably from the 300 Eventually there was complete sys- had been moved to the Church Town last for about eighty years with the 19th century with additions from the 250 tem of small, densely packed church from elsewhere. This contributed to maintenance possible at the time. By 20th century. There may also be cot- cottages that were linked in a circular the preservation of the dense mediae- then it would have rotted and been in tages where the best timber from old- 200 arrangement of passages and alleys. val structure. Since the Church Town such bad condition that it had to be er cottages was reused in a new struc- 150 That also meant that the plot which in Gammelstad had not been moved replaced with a new on. A cattle shed ture. each church cottage was allocated by since the Middle Ages, the original in constant use was a damp environ- 100 the church was little. When a house structure had a self-regulatory ef- ment and had a life of 30 years at the Number of The Church Town when it 50 buildings eventually deteriorated to the extent fect on the size of the church cottag- most.16 A stable at the church site cer- was biggest 0 that it had to be demolished, the re- es. There was quite simply never room tainly had a longer life, because the The concentration of church cottag- Church cottages Church cottages Church cottages Stable Stable jointly one owner two owners more than single owner owned placement could not be bigger than for expansion. stables were not used as often. Poor- es for parishioners created a dense, two owners the plot and the surrounding cot- Nearly all the church cottages are er maintenance of cottages in olden urban character. Since villagers pre- About two-thirds of the church cottages were owned by single individuals in 1817. tages permitted. The collective of in- basically timber buildings. Notes in times means that we hardly have any ferred to build church cottages close More than half the stables were shared by several people.

22 23 Church Town and Church Village Church Town and Church Village cottages and stables were distribut- with cottage owners from other vil- ed among owners. The parishes then lages. Adding up the number of sin- stretched along the Lule River Valley gly owned and shared stables for the to the Lappmark boundary and some church cottages, subtracting for the church cottage owners thus lived shared stables which for natural rea- in present-day Boden Municipali- sons were double registered, one ar- ty.18 Two-thirds of the cottages were rives at 202 stable buildings which owned by single individuals, and a were distributed across the church third of them had two owners. A few site. That is an impressive number, church cottages had more than two which together with the number of owners. Of all the church cottages, church cottages shows how congest- ed the Church Town had become by the beginning of the 19th centu- ry. Of all the stables, 92 were individ- ually owned, while 110 were jointly owned by two owners, see Diagram 1. It was not unusual to own a cottage with someone from the same village and a stable together with other par- ties.19 Certain church cottage owners A handful of what was once more than 200 stables still remain, such as this one on Gamla The picture gives us a clear idea of how the rows of stables on Bergner’s map from 1817 must could have a stable at a considerable Hamngatan. have looked in reality. The stables must have had the same basic shape and size even in earlier distance from the Church Town. This centuries. applies for example to some who had stables on Ön (The Island). On the only three had been built unlawfully ple owned cottage 131. In the margin street Gamla Hamngatan lay a long on church land, while the rest stood alongside the note says: “Hans Petter low stables on the east side of the cot- on their allocated plots on the church Persson of Västmark share in cottage tages, of which three remain today. hill. Of the stables however, 31 stood and stable”. Here we see how friend- If one includes church cottages erroneously on church land. ships and cooperation transcended with stables on the church site, stables The roof of the stable Investigation of the ownership of village boundaries. One could also comprised almost a third of the 690 on Gamla Hamngatan the church cottages shows that almost share with relatives living in another Church Town buildings. To this we is made of barrel head- everyone who shared a church cot- village. But cross ownership between can add the individually owned plots ers with the inscription “CLORURE DE CALCIUM”. The narrow passages between the houses tage came from the same village. In villages was unusual. Of the 180 cot- in the church village with over 300 Calcium chloride was are called smog in Luleå dialect. The medi­ cases where people shared with some- tages that were jointly owned, only 10- buildings. We can understand from used extensively in the aeval urban feel is reinforced by these one from another village, it was noted. 15 had owners from different villages. this how densely the buildings must past instead of road salt to narrow alleyways. Eric Jönsson from Bensbyn for exam- However, stables were often shared have stood. melt ice or to bind dust.

24 25 Church cottage design Church cottage design

The church cottages’ exteriors have taken their inspiration from many sources. The typical church cottage door is influenced by early 19th century Neo-Classicism. Five of the present-day church cottages are built in two storeys. Each generation has contributed to the constantly ongoing change.

CHAPTER 2 Church cottage design

The church cottages in Gammelstad have been continu- ally changed through alterations and by the use of new building materials. On the turn-of-the-century picture you see how underlying timbers are being covered with outer panelling. The church cottage on the right still has a tradi- tional wooden roof, while the one on the left has an outer cladding of tar paper, which was modern at the time.

26 27 Church cottage design Church cottage design

Renovations and alterations one of provisionally built settler town es. One opinion often put forward is When the church cottages first make in the American Midwest. We know that the two-storey cottages are for- their appearance in earnest it is in the that window shutters were installed mer burgher houses converted into form of drawings, paintings or pho- on parish cottages as early as 1692.20 church cottages. Their height, togeth- tographs from the end of the 19th Now nearly all the church cottages er with their location near the church and the early 20th centuries. Photo- had window shutters. On the church has been associated with power and graphs by State Inspector for Herit- hill where the bell tower stands, the money. People have considered that age Protection Sigurd Curman in 1909 closest cottage roofs in the 20th cen- only burghers built such large church show how timber church cottages tury were clad in planed boards, but cottages. without panelling are standing side- in the background one can see on one Wooden roofs were carefully built with layers Three of them stand on the up- by-side with panelled timber build- photo a traditional roof with the out- of boards, sometimes with spruce bark cov- per part of Gamla Bodenvägen (the ings. The houses stand irregularly er layer of round poles. The top of the ering and an outermost layer of birch bark old Boden Road). The fourth stands placed, forming a street, but not in a smooth barked round poles reached which was held in place by criss-cross poles. on Garvargränd before it meets Rut- straight line. The impression is more just above the roof ridge so that they viksvägen, and the fifth is on Gamla overlap and form an airy latticework Hamngatan. On the sketch of the ur- at the top. This was known as a vedtak ban quarter in Gammelstad that Nic- with and had a birch bark base.21 odemus Tessin the Elder made just On a picture from 1926, a number before the town relocation it is evi- of joints are being clad with upright The door on the gable wall has been removed and replaced with a window. The entrance has dent that only one of the five two-sto- smooth wooden panelling. Tar paper been moved from the gable wall to the front side and the window moved up. rey church cottages lay within the is beginning to take over from wood- town area which had grown during en roofs.22 Interlocking panelling with In the past it was not unusual for to the front side and to the far end of 30 years in the church village.25 This wide upright boards and a narrow rib- the entrance to be on the gable side of the cottage. The previous door open- gives rise to a certain scepticism. Why bing covering the joins is a standard the church cottage. This was the case ing on the gable wall was converted would burghers in the early 17th cen- which became widespread in Sweden with the church cottages on the lower into a window so that what had been tury build houses outside the allocat- as the cheapest way to achieve a cov- part of Gamla Hamngatan.23 We can a förstuga became instead a chamber ed town area when they already had ering outer wall. By using ribbing one see how alterations were carried out with a window.24 large plots for their own buildings? saved on wood. One also reduced the when the gable entrance was changed This applied even less after the town risk of draught while protecting the for a front entrance in church cottages The photo reveals the extension had been moved to present-day Luleå. timbers. It also became such a com- 478 and 479 on Brantgränd. In the present-day Church Town, Perhaps the most conspicuous mon standard in the Church Town In summer 1948, number 479 was there are at least five church cottag- two-storey church cottage is num- that it gave the impression of be- altered. It had previously had the en- es that stand out because they are ber 366-370, which lies at the cross- ing the original way of cladding the trance on the gable wall, leading to a two-storey. Like small skyscrapers ing between Gamla Sunderbyvägen Through joint ownership of the church cottages with individual chambers, different parts of the church cottages. When church cot- förstuga porch. From there, an inner they jut up among the low buildings, and Framlänningsvägen. It juts out to- church cottages were changed at different rates. On the picture from Linellgränd dated 1909, tages were renovated in the 1970s that door led into the main room. Now the although nevertheless closely inte- wards the square opposite the church the timber is visible on some of the cottages. On other cottages the timber is clad with panelling. method was still in use. front door was moved from the gable grated with the other church cottag- steeple, a prominent landmark. On

28 29 Church cottage design Church cottage design

grid was extended around Luleå. It closed shutters on the gable wall and tion to the west and larger to the east. Along Gamla Bodenvägen stand three large two-storey has been documented that Gammel- a white door. It stands at the top of Above, the new storey has been add- church cottages within sight stad had 10 telephone subscribers in Framlänningsvägen. Just in front of ed. of each other. Everything in- 1895 through the newly erected tele- the house stands a telegraph pole.28 dicates they were originally phone network.27 The photograph was The next photograph is dated 1926 The church cottages jointly owned single-storey probably taken soon after the turn of and was taken at exactly the same were never burgher houses church cottages, and were extended with an upper the century, on the photograph we place as the first. The well with a well Along Gamla Bodenvägen lie two floor around the turn-of- see on the left the characteristic well sweep remains, as well as the two more two-storey church cottages. On the-century 1900 to make with a well sweep near the bell tow- small church cottages. The telegraph both cottages one can see that the cor- room for more chambers. er and to the right, two church cot- pole still stands by the house at the ner joints below and above are not tages which are built as small single top of so-called Smörbacken. The dif- completely in line, which they would Lilja Hjort at the hole in the förstuga of cham- the map from 1817, church cottage 413, a church cottage. The explanation is cottages with door and window fac- ference is that the house has now been have been if the cottages head been ber 477. She owns what was Britta Nilsson’s which was at the time owned by Jöns seen when one compares two photo- ing the square. The one on the right extended with a second storey.29 It is originally built as two-storey cottag- chamber on the lower floor of the house, and Ahlström and Jöns Hansson from Al- graphs taken in the decades around still has its timbers fully visible and the same two-storey church cottage es. Church cottage 388‒389, which her son the upper chamber. The silence of the vik, stands in the same place.26 That 1900 looking towards the church cot- has a planks roof. The one on the left that stands there today. Closer exam- stands lowest down at the sharp bend church cottage appeals to her. there are only two chambers in it, tages at the crossing Framlänningsvä- is clad with planks and has an inde- ination of the current house clearly in Gamla Bodenvägen, is joined to a compared to today's five, is somewhat gen - Gamla Sunderbyvägen. finable light roof, possibly tar paper, shows how the joints from the former lower, single-storey cottage. This di- cabins is number 474‒477 which has surprising if the building is a former On the first photo, telegraph poles which gives off reflections in the light. single-storey house end after the first viding wall between the single-sto- its gable wall towards Garvargränd. burgher house from the 17th or 18th have been erected, so it must have Farthest to the right stands an oblong storey. The corner joint shows that rey cottage and the two-storey cottage At the lower entrance to the church century that was later converted into been taken after the 1880s when the plank-clad single-storey house with it has been divided with a small sec- shows that it was originally a shared cottage, about 3 m above the ground cottage, divided in two by a wall. On a photograph of Linellgränd in 1909 one can see that it was built in two storeys.30 This corresponds well with church cottage 322/332 on Lars Pe- ters Bergner’s map from 1817, which was divided in the direction the mid- dle wall runs. It then consisted of two joined cottages, where 322 was owned by “young” Jöns Jönsson and 332 by Olof Jönsson, both from Heden.31 It Church cottage 474–477 is the most unu- is quite clear that the lower and up- sual of the five church cottages built in two The picture shows the present-day church cottage 366–370 at the On the next picture from 1926, the house at Framlänningsvägen-Gam- storeys. When it was photographed in 1948 per parts of the present-day two-sto- The hole is to let in light and give ventilation crossing Framlänningsvägen-Gamla Bodenvägen. The telegraph pole la Bodenvägen has been extended by one storey. Exactly what year it had a hole in the wall near the entrance rey building are not in line. The upper to chamber 477 on the upper floor. Its attrac- on the picture reveals that it is after the 1890s when the telephone this happened cannot be determined, but it was later than the 1890s. above the door and on the other side, a win- storey must have been added later. tion is as a vantage point over the surround- network was extended to Gammelstad. dow. The hole is still there. The most original of the two-storey ings.

30 31 Church cottage design Church cottage design there is a large hole in the wall meas- up, it cannot be said that any of the time when we bought the low- with a cast-iron uring about 40 cm. It was already two-storey church cottages seem er chamber. It was full of birds and stove added. On there when Nordiska museet car- to have been burgher houses. The birds’ nests in there. I think we made the mantelpiece ried out its investigation more than houses that stood in their locations a hatch and closed it.” are two black 70 years ago.32 The position with re- in 1817 were all registered as church Britta remembers that the elderly flatirons of the gard to the Rutvik Curve indicates it cottages. And all of them ex- woman who owned the upper storey old straight corresponds to church cottage 159 on cept one were built outside became angry when she had been giv- model, testimo- the map from 1817. The present-day the old town plan. en notifications about the hole in the ny to the sisters two-storey church cottage with its timbers in the regular church cottage who would sit four chambers ties in excellently with Living with the tradition The flatiron is left from the time when rugs inspections. “It has been like this all weaving. the then four-owner group of Nils Among those who have lived in the and tapestries were woven in the upstairs the time. Are we to take it away? Nev- Lilja was Jönsson, Eric Hansson, Per Jönsson house with the hole in the wall is Brit- chamber. er!” was her answer. The elderly wom- born one of and Olof Larsson from Sunderbyn.33 ta Nilsson. She was born in Ersnäs as an was Anna Wallgren from Långön. many siblings In 1948 the church cottage had a sin- number four of 11 siblings. Her par- Älvdalen, but when she retired, she She used to sit in the chamber weav- in Kaakamo in At the beginning of the 21st century, Britta bought a new chamber, this gle chimney which served all four ents had a farm there. They had no began to long for her home in Norr- ing tapestries and rugs together with Northern Fin- time on the upper floor of one of the two-storey cottages on Gamla chambers. Now there are two chim- church cottage but they were allowed botten, therefore in 1992 she and her her sister.34 Anna is a legend in hand- land, but moved Bodenvägen. It is a much bigger room than before with a large förstuga neys, one for each side of the cottage. to borrow a church cottage through husband bought the chamber on the icraft in Luleå and was also given the to Luleå in the porch and a small kitchenette. Since the two last mentioned church the maternal and paternal grand- lower storey of the cottage with the King’s Medal for her commitment to 1980s. When cottages are so consciously built for parents. As an adult, Britta trained hole. handicraft.35 the road still passed through Gam- Now and then four separate chambers, it is probable as a music instructor and moved to “The hole had been open all the The current owner of what was for- melstad, when she drove past, she she talked on that some people in the 18th or ear- merly Britta’s chamber 476 is named would always wish she could pop into the phone with ly 19th-century joined forces to build Lilja Hjort. She already knew Britta a church cottage. Finally she bought “Aunt Anna”, a two-storey church cottage with four and her brother. She arranges for us one on Gamla Hamngatan, but always who had looms chambers. They were indeed regis- to visit the almost mystical chamber felt there were too many tourists there in the cham- Memorial dish with a tered as church cottages in 1817. on the upper storey, which Lilja’s son in the summer. It was for the tranquil- ber above, but portrait of Anna Wall- The three high church cottages on now owns. The timber construction lity she liked the church cottages. whom she has gren as a child. Gamla Bodenvägen lay near each oth- is strong and feels antiquated with a “I don't see so much of the neigh- never met in er. We know that the one that lay clos- förstuga both upstairs and down. The bours and I really enjoy my own com- person. est to the square was extended some two förstuga sections are linked by a pany. Perhaps it is because I grew up “I feel there is something good from time between the 1890s and 1926. We steep stairway roughly like the stair- in such a large family in Finland. The her living in the cottage. I often say to see also that the other church cottag- case one sees in a härbre storehouse. silence is somehow attractive.” the children, who are quite stressed es had their upper storeys added later. On the upper storey adjoining the She then points up at the golden out, to come to the cottage and rest Perhaps it became modern to do this förstuga there is a cubbyhole which church weathervane, which can be up.” 36 after 1900 and all three buildings were The shelf from Anna Wallgren’s dresser in chamber 477 is is still full of firewood. There one also seen from her window. Britta Nilsson finally got hold of a raised some time during the first two now downstairs in Lilja’s chamber. Reusing the furniture sees the original hole in the timber. In “I see the rooster up there. Sitting bigger chamber. From the window decades of the 20th century. To sum passes history on to a new context. the chamber there is an open fireplace there. I feel I am with it.” she can see straight across to the im-

32 33 Church cottage design Church cottage design pressive white church steeple. Britta lented and let some boys from Ersnäs The antique column basically consists has a special passion for folk culture lie on the floor. Everything was very of a plinth, a shaft and at the top a in the Luleå region and she has had innocent. But as quickly as the week- capital. When such a column is added links to four different church cottag- end arrived, it was past just as quick- as decor on a wall or door it is techni- es from childhood to adulthood. The ly all over. cally known as a pilaster. Most church church cottage on her mother's side “When people had gone home, then cottages in Gammelstad have as basic lay in the collection of church cottages I wanted to go home! I was in a hurry decor on the door leaf such as stylised on the east side of Framlänningsvägen then. The shutters were closed. Then pilaster. It is so common, one can say as you come from the south. It was there was nothing to do here.” it is a standard feature. called Gammelgårdsstugan (Old Farm In the chamber, family photos jos- The other type of decor is a tall isos- The painting is in church cottage 136 and Cottage). She lived there when she tle with beautiful handicraft of dif- celes triangle which stands out in re- shows the family home in Stenudden. On was confirmed. During church feasts ferent descriptions and a thin book lief in the upper part of the door. The the picture one sees that the doors are of they could borrow it and further back of biblical tales from primary school. lower part of the triangle rests on a the typical Luleå model with tall triangles as in time the keys were left with a spe- There was also a straight, red-paint- half high altar-like platform. It is in- decoration. cial key lady who lived permanent- ed chair, a so-called tolvslåstol (twelve tegrated with the Classic underlying ly in Gammelstad. It was quite com- strut chair) from her childhood home pilaster as a combined composition, smooth, sometimes fluted with close mon to leave the church cottage key in Ersnäs. They would turn it upside so that the half high base of the pi- vertical grooves. On one or two doors with somebody who lived in Gam- The architect Jacob Wilhelm down and play with it when she was a laster is a platform for the triangle. the triangle is painted in a contrasting melstad. When she was young she was Gerss finalised the drawings child.37 Everything is interwoven with The triangle is sometimes completely colour to increase the effect. Some pi- for Överluleå 1831. The allowed to spend the night in Gam- her life story. Neo-Classic church was melgårdsstugan on condition that she designed as a white temple stayed with an aunt. Later she was al- up on the hill. At the bottom Neo-Classicist front doors lowed to go there with a sister or a fe- of the church door of Över- Walking along the alleys, one soon male friend. They always began by luleå church we see a relief notices the front doors of the church lighting a fire in the open fireplace. of a Classical column with cottages. They stand out like white plinths, shaft and capital at Pentecost and the Feast of St Mi- the top. It is supplemented fields against the Falu red (brick red) chael were young people's feasts. Then with a tall triangle. The door outer walls. Some are simple, but most she could go to the church cottage on of church cottage 31 is a are of intricate woodwork of the kind Friday after work. On the Saturday direct parallel to the church that shows that the doors have been there was a dance down on the dance- door of Överluleå church. important indicators of status. After a floor. She remembers it as a hectic oc- while one notices some special shapes casion where there was not much time that dominate as decor on most of the for eating. They brought ready-pre- doors. The first is the stylised relief pared food such as chops, meatballs of an antique column such as used in or pancakes. Boys used to knock on temples or profane buildings in an- The triangle has become a unifying design element for the Church Town. In church cottage 469 the windows. Sometimes the girls re- cient Greece and the Roman Empire. on Brantgränd, it is reinforced with grey colouring.

34 35 Church cottage design Church cottage design lasters and triangles on the doors are striking. To understand the influenc- Art. He was then deeply influenced by oration of the Classical period be- church cottages. The door motif is artificially and skilfully made. Oth- es and symbolism, one must go back the reigning penchant for Classical ar- came transplanted in Christian tradi- found to this day on the doors of old- ers are simpler in form and reminis- to the renowned journey of King Gus- chitecture. The first design for Över- tion and eventually became a lasting er farmhouses, for example in Ersnäs. cent of home-made rustic furniture. tav III to Italy in the 1780s and the luleå church however was executed Church Town tradition in Gammel- There is the possibility of course that As early as the 1940s, historian Karl then rediscovered Pompeii. The Ital- by assistant surveyor Erik Hollström, stad. It also shows how strongly the Jacob Wilhelm Gerss was inspired by Cajmatz considered that the doors ian journey changed the King’s taste who lived in Sunderbyn. The design church cottages have been influenced existing eldspjut firespears on farm- with triangles were so special for the in architecture from careful rococo to was inspired by the round and pow- by aesthetic impulses from the outside steads in the parishes of Överluleå Church Town in Gammelstad that he radical Neo-Classicism. After return- erful shapes of rococo, with the tower world. Everything indicates that the or Nederluleå when he designed the called the type the Luleå Door.38 ing home therefore he let his Classical placed in the middle of the long side The window coping has a clearly Classicist triangular decor on the church cot- church doors for Överluleå church. The immediate precursor of the leanings influence national architec- as the main entrance. The entrance character. tage doors in Gammelstad was direct- More research is needed. Neo-Classicist church cottage doors is ture. Both the Swedish architect Olof was clearly Classically inspired with ly transferred from Boden. A water probably to be found in the doorway Tempelman and the French architect pilasters on the sides, rounded off by the strong antique inspiration Gerss painting by Harald Lindberg depict- to Överluleå church in Boden, which Louis Jean Desprez were deeply in- a triangular crown. It looked like the stood for, one can imagine that he ing church cottages in Boden with the was inaugurated in 1831. The two high volved in the project of Gustav III to entrance to a temple burial chamber. took the shape from the Egyptian church in the background was used in copper-trimmed wooden doors have build Haga Palace, as well as other na- The proposal was discussed in April pyramids which indeed were burial Johannes von Ahn’s book about Över- as their basic decor a pilaster with half tional construction projects.39 They 1824 by the parishioners in a packed chambers. In a Christian context one luleå church which was published for high base, a shaft and capital at the were a powerful influence in Sweden parish hall in Gammelstad. The mood can also imagine that they symbolise its centennial Jubilee in 1931. On the top. In the lower part, a tall triangle in the direction of Neo-Classicism. was favourable, but the overall form of the Holy Trinity, but such symbolic picture, one of the church cottages has has been added. The similarity with There is indirect link between the the main church room was opposed. triangles are often equilateral. Histori- a triangle pilaster on the door.42 the church doors in Gammelstad is two architects and the church door After the public response, the Chief an Kaj Bergman is of the opinion that In church cottage 136 in Gam- in Överluleå Superintendent's office in Stockholm the triangular shape comes from the melstad, which was owned by Ste- church. Ja- commissioned architect Jacob Wil- pointed shape of the Obelisk. It might fan Ruth, a painting hangs above the cob Wilhelm helm Gerss to produce a new design. have been misinterpreted by carpen- sofa showing his mother's parental Gerss, who fi- The church was now stricter and more ters in the Luleå region as a sacrificial home in Stenudden near Avan (be- nalised the de- Classically straightforward in design. flame connected with the Old Testa- tween Luleå and Boden). She ordered signs for Över- The temple-like impression was rein- ment and the biblical tale of Abraham it from an uncle who painted. Look- luleå church in forced by two rows of columns inside who was prepared to sacrifice his son ing at it carefully one sees that the the late 1820s, the church. After further meetings Isaac to prove his strong faith in a sin- two front doors are each decorated had studied ar- and petitions from the men of the gle God. In that interpretation, the with a tall triangle of the kind seen chitecture un- parish, Gerss was forced to remove base in the door relief has the func- on the church cottages in Gammel- der Desprez. the pillars and go back to Hollström’s tion of a sacrificial altar. The tall trian- stad. This shows that the Luleå Door He had been proposal. The compromise was the gle on the church cottage doors is also was found on farms in the villages, assistant sec- temple-like church in Classical style called eldspjut (fire spear) in the Luleå not only in the Church Town. For that 40 41 The herringbone pattern was most common On certain doors there are double pilasters which suggest a colonnade, retary to Olof that was inaugurated in 1831. region. reason, one can also surmise that the on panelled doors in the 17th and 18th cen- such as on church cottage 513, Rutviksvägen. The Classical motif in Tempelman in The symbolic interpretation of the The Luleå Door is an example of motif was first spread to the wealthy turies. It is still popular on the church cottag- white is reinforced by the red background. the Academy of triangle is not self-evident. Based on how the 18th century Gustavian ad- farming community and then to the es in Gammelstad.

36 37 The Individual and the Collective The Individual and the Collective

The church has always owned the church cottage plots. Therefore the mediaeval structure in the Church Town in Gammelstad has been preserved. The church cottages are small and stand close to each other. The individual has had to give way to the collective. With today’s more individualist lifestyle, that mentality is challenged.

CHAPTER 3 The Individual and the Collective

One old Church Town custom was that groups of youths would knock on the windows of chambers where they knew there were girls. They tried to find overnight accom- modation. The lucky one might be allowed to lie next to one of the girls he was interested in. Collective courting could give two individuals an opportunity to meet.

38 39 The Individual and the Collective The Individual and the Collective

A way to meet others the village community, but also proof This is according to the oral fami- lon stockings. The photograph is from in Maj-Lis, whose maiden name was a little older they were allowed to cy- The church cottages were original- that one belonged to the parish as a ly history which has been passed on the inspection of the church cottages Nordström. The two girls were on a cle from Avan to Gammelstad and ly built by home owners in the par- whole. During weekend events and from generation to generation. carried out by the county historian for short visit to the church cottage when stay in the church cottage over the ish. They were also the only ones ac- confirmation one got to know people When May-Britt was 10 years old, Norrbotten, Karl Cajmatz, in summer Cajmatz took the photo. weekend. They took food and on the cording to the regulations who had from other villages. One created rela- her mother took the five children with that year.43 It is he who is holding the The picture says a lot about the im- luggage rack they had firewood. The the right to be allocated plots in the tions and contacts for life. In that way, her to the photographer Tormod to camera. portance of the church cottages in the girls had orders from paternal grand- Church Town. To have a church cot- the church cottages were important to have the family photographed. She When May-Britt got to see the pho- 40s and 50s for those who lived in the mother that when they left the cot- tage in Gammelstad was to be part of social life in the region in a way we to- was seriously ill. tograph she immediately recognised villages around Gammelstad. Families tage, the bed clothes were to be hang- day cannot imagine. “Mother knew that she did not have the interior of the church cottage from went there to enjoy a little “posh life”. ing to air in the wood shed. Otherwise Many church cottages long to live. She went to a seamstress when she was young. The two girls on They visited relatives and acquaint- they would go mouldy. On one such were inherited, often over and bought cloth. Then she went to the short extendable sofa however, she ances in the cottages, sat for a while in trip, two drunken bachelors from an- several generations. It was the photographer with us,” said May- could not place. the sofa, perhaps drank a cup of cof- other village wanted to get into the not necessarily the one who Britt. “It is not me, because in 1948 I was fee or just moved on after a while. The cottage. The girls had just arrived at took over the homestead Her mother died in 1941 and Elix 18 years old. It can be Ingegerd my sis- youngsters ran between the church the cottage and were taking out the who was given the church was left alone with the five children. ter,” she said. cottages, visiting. bedclothes to air them, but the two cottage. May-Britt Ruth, 89 He played the accordion and taught Later, when sister Ingegerd got to When May-Britt and Ingegerd were men were insistent and would not years, was the daughter of the girls to dance before they them- see the photograph via mail, she said ferryman Elix Sundström selves went dancing. He never had that it was not her, but the dark girl in Avan. She and her sister time to use the church cottage. May- she thinks she recognises as Aina En- bought the other siblings’ Britt did however, as well as her sister kvist, to use the girl's maiden name. shares in the church cot- Ingegerd, two years younger. Church She was from Avan and the best tage after their father died cottage 136 was theirs. It stands south friend of little sister Doris. But wheth- in 1987. The siblings agreed of the church right next to the so- er it was Doris sitting in her lap she to the offer and they owned called Oxtorget Square on the road could not answer. it together until May-Britt leading down to Petrigården. A few weeks later, during a visit to in turn bought her sister’s In the Nordiska museet archive Doris, the mystery was solved. Doris share. Now it is the son Ste- there is black-and-white photograph still lives in Stenudden near the pa- In December 1940 it was fan Ruth who owns it to- from 1948 taken inside church cottage rental home. She recognised the dark burning in the Church Town. gether with his wife Eva. 136, which was then owned by the fa- girl immediately as her best friend A military unit that was sta- The church cottage has ther Elix. On the kitchen sofa sit two Aina, but the light girl sitting in her tioned in Gammelstad just been inherited within the girls looking straight into the cam- lap is hard to identify. But after a then managed to stop the family after his mater- era. One of them is dark and smiling while she fetched a black-and-white fire by blasting a number of church cottages and creat- nal grandfather's paternal happily. In her lap sits a light girl with photograph which with some difficul- ing a firebreak. “They took May-Britt Ruth with her son Stefan visiting the church grandmother, who in turn her arm around the other girl’s shoul- ty she found in pile of photographs in all church cottages near the cottage. Her paternal grandfather had split an old millstone received it as a wedding gift ders. They are finely dressed in new the living room. There, everything fell church for storehouses,” and used it for a step in front of the cottage. from her husband in 1858. coats. The light girl has modern ny- into place. The light girl was her cous- May-Britt Ruth told us.

40 41 The Individual and the Collective The Individual and the Collective leave. They wanted to get into the cot- macy who had forgotten to switch together with her paternal grand- along Framlänningsvägen for further al – it had to be tar paper. Father was tage. Ingegerd stood with a broom off an iron. Another version is at it mother. She vividly remembered an transport to Sunderbyn, where some so furious and said that the whole of and May-Britt took a piece of fire- was caused by children playing with episode from that time. At the time were to take the ferry across the riv- Gammelstad might as well burn up,” wood and hit one of them on the arm. matches. there were not yet any public toilets, er to Avan. Among those who came May-Britt remembered. In the end he They finally left. The war also had consequences for but they had access to a latrine in a there were also elderly men and wom- was allowed to put a sheet metal roof the use of the church cottages. stable. She and her friend Barbro were en. May-Britt felt sorry for them. on. Since then the cottage has been The church cottage as “During the war we were not al- at the latrine when some men brought After the war, the family was giv- renovated a couple more times. The a family memento lowed to be here. The military took all in mares which were going to be cov- en back the key to the church cot- woodshed has become a chamber and The time of the Second World War the church cottages that were nearest ered. tage. The stove was ruined because of there is a refrigerator and freezer. was dramatic. May-Britt remembers the church. They used the church cot- “The horses were neighing and things the military had put in it. The church cottage contains a the devastation after the fire in 1940, tages for storage,” she said. frisky and we were supposed to be “Grandfather made a new chimney. The painting of Gammelstad church was wealth of family mementoes. May- when a whole quarter on the north- Because May-Britt was confirmed at confirmation at 8 o’clock. Barbro It is still there today and father wanted bought at an auction in Råneå. May-Britt was Britt’s grandfather operated a mill. east side burned down. From what during the war years, she was instead said “I’m opening it!” “No for God’s to install a sheet metal roof. But they given it as a present when the cottage was When it was closed down, he split the she heard it was a maid in the phar- allowed to borrow a relative’s cottage sake,” I said. “There are horses out were not allowed to install sheet met- renovated in 1987. grooved millstone and used part of there.” Eventually they dared to come it as a step to the church cottage. The out. When the stable was torn down furniture has its own history. When and new hygiene requirements were May-Britt’s father was 10 years old he made, the problem arose how toi- persuaded his parents to let him go lets should be arranged for the more with the older siblings to the church than 500 owners of church cottage cottage. Since it was so crowded, he chambers. In the 1930s therefore the had to lie under the table which re- Church Town latrines were built with mains in the same condition as it was 4 doors.44 Today there are service in 1900. Father made the chairs much buildings with toilets at 6 places in the later. Harry cut the legs off the Gus- Church Town. tavian bed and made it into a kitchen Near the end of the Second World sofa.45 War, Finnish refugees arrived in Gam- Above the cupboard there is a melstad by train. They had their live- framed reproduction of Leonardo Da stock with them in the wagons. May- Vinci's Last Supper, which has built- Britt stood on the steps of a church in lighting. Stefan's wife bought it. cottage at Framlänningsvägen and On each side there are gilt sconces saw them step off at the train station. with white candles and in the middle, It was in late summer 1944 and she re- The church cottage is also a kind of museum of family history. The kitchen sofa that May-Britt on the dresser there is a modern sil- membered that the weather was aw- and Stefan are sitting in was previously a sofa bed made by uncle Almkvist in Avan around the ver black radio surrounded by lathed The archive of Nordiska museet includes the picture of Aina Enkvist, on the left, and Maj-Lis ful. The rain was pouring down when year 1900. When he was a boy, May-Britt’s father once slept under the kitchen table when he candlesticks with candles in. On the Nordström visiting church cottage 136. The sofa at the door was intended to receive visitors. the young girls drove the cows up had talked his parents into letting him go with his big sisters to the church cottage. table side of the dresser there is a

42 43 The Individual and the Collective The Individual and the Collective framed verse on the theme of spring- Preserving a heritage photographing church cottages in ceived it as a gift. They lived in compares the photograph from the time which May-Britt’s grandmother Åsa Lindman became the owner of summer 1948, he also knocked on the and ran the large homestead 1940s with today's furniture. The sofa received as a present from her daugh- church cottage 138 a few months ago. door of church cottage 138. There he called Jåkupgården between Al- is now in her mother's home but the ters. The rhyming verse praises the It is right at the centre, just south took a photograph of an elderly wom- vik and Skäret. make-up mirror that can be seen on mother who has constantly given un- of the church, and has a typical an who was sitting in one end of a Åsa’s mother, Kristina, tells us the writing desk is still in the church conditional love to her children. It Neo-Classicist white front door with a sofa looking benignly straight into the that her mother lost her own mother floor. The old floor was leaning to- cottage. It now stands on a smaller, has a naive sense of trust that touch- beautiful grooved triangle on the up- camera.46 The woman on the photo- when she was eight. Therefore Kris- wards a hole in the wall so when you dark brown chest of drawers. A col- es upon the essence of existence and per part. When we meet, Åsa is sitting graph is Åsa’s maternal grandmoth- tina’s mother was brought up by her scoured it with sand in the water it ourful red striped sofa bed in pine suggests that it is not only purely hap- with her mother and father, Kristina er's paternal grandmother and gives paternal grandmother Maria, her fa- ran out there. In the hole there was a of 1970s type has replaced the earlier py memories that are always associ- and Harry Öqvist, in the airy cottage an intriguing time perspective to how ther and her paternal grandfather, wooden plug.” curved kitchen sofa. She has no ambi- ated with the church cottage. When with white lace curtains. The white church cottages are passed down from since they shared the household. The Apart from the floor, the chimney tions to make any major changes but May-Britt’s oldest daughter died, the painted straight chairs with two cross generation to generation. Her name paternal grandmother was called has been renovated and the roof re- would rather preserve. The folding coffin had to be in the church cottage pieces and a solid back rest are recog- was Maria Olsson and she was born Jåkup-Maria after the name of the placed with sheeting designed to give table she wants to keep but perhaps while they dug the grave. In that way, nisable from many other church cot- in the second half of the 19th centu- homestead. It is she who is sitting in the impression of an old roof. Åsa she will wallpaper with something the church cottages have linked gen- tage interiors. They are as common as ry and the church cottage has been the sofa in the black-and-white pho- new in some old-style print, and she erations in life and death. the triangles on the doors. owned by her, but it is unclear wheth- tograph. Kristina herself does not re- might improve the plastering above When Karl Cajmatz walked around er it was she or her husband who re- member anything other than that the stove. Jåkup-Maria had sadly become senile “I was here along with granny at when she herself was a child. She was church feasts. It was she who owned known as a “folk healer” who could it then, and there were always a lot of stop bleeding, a gift she passed on to people here. They came here for fika. Kristina’s maternal grandfather. And then there were fairs, and I was The church cottage that Åsa bought confirmed here. Then it was mostly from her uncle has a single room with mum and I living here.” a small förstuga (porch). In the förstu- She has found it important to keep ga there was previously a woodshed the church cottage in the family and but the entrance has been convert- she wants to help preserve the herit- ed so that the former woodshed now age. In Alvik she has taken over her functions as a kitchenette. Different maternal grandparents’ homestead relatives have contributed to the reno- and she has a summer cottage in vation of the cottage, according to fa- Brändön.47 She wants to be able to go ther Harry. to the church cottage to drink coffee Maria Olsson’s front door with the typical Åsa Lindman has a strong feel for the church cottage as a family heir- On the sofa sits Åsa’s great-great-grandmother Jåkup-Maria. The “The floor was made from the half Luleå triangle was captured by photographer with the family or with friends, per- loom. The make-up mirror on the dresser is the same as her grand- photograph was taken in 1948. The beautifully curved sofa and the logs that lay here before. We took Elvin Enqvist sometime between 1956–1960 haps be here when there is some event mother’s grandmother Jåkup-Maria had in the church cottage over 70 bed, the cupboards and the firewood box were made by the carpenter them up to the sawmill in Alvik and when he was in the Church Town. The same at Hägnan open-air museum. She is years ago. Öberg from Långnäs prior to the 1890s. made planks of them and built a sub- door is still on the church cottage. the fifth generation after Jåkup-Maria.

44 45 The Individual and the Collective The Individual and the Collective

Change and preservation sible. Stone has been placed on stone corners.48 For that reason they were Perhaps it is our underlying yearn- and every stone bears the hallmark of prominent as the official representa- ing for beauty that gives the build- craftsmanship. It is the handprint that tives of the collective. ings their inner power. Everywhere in makes the building so vibrant. The In the Church Town everyone was Gammelstad one senses this yearning. slightly curved line of the trained eye a cog in the collective machinery. The The proportions of the church were is more living than the straight pre- topography meant that it was neces- not set randomly. The master builder, fabricated line. That is why mediaeval sary to build densely, and when con- the carpenters and the masons used buildings speak so direct to us. We see gestion had been built into the archi- their experience to the limit to cre- the human in the building. So it is in tecture it could no longer be changed. ate a building as magnificent as pos- Gammelstad. People were built into a collective and We see too in the church cottages had to go with the movement of the how the many owners have changed collective. If someone demolished a and improved, how they have striv- church cottage, an empty space arose, en for their particular church cottage but it was limited in every direction to meet the expectations people have by the logic of congestion. Anyone of a church cottage. Then we also see building something new on the plot The Church Town in itself is evidence that cooperation is the basis During church feasts, everyday life was upside down. Aquavit was used to how expectations have changed over had to be content with the space that for human coexistence. No matter whether it was a question of release inhibitions and then crazy things could happen, which were part of time. The Church Town and church was there. In that way the Church building or renovating a church cottage, or scrubbing the smell of the feast period. Then, the return to everyday chores. Picture from a film village we see today are not the same Town in Gammelstad has kept its winter out of furniture, collaboration with others was the done thing. shoot in 1928. as what visitors saw 100 years ago or dense mediaeval structure through 500 years ago. In that way the build- centuries of modernisation. It is like doors and the window copings can re- to trust in cooperation when build- ended up in court for having insulted ings have changed with the owners’ observing a small continuing miracle. flect social differences between own- ing the church cottage. A great deal each other. There was assault of wom- sense of beauty. The compact tim- There were of course also individual ers, but it can also mark aesthetic dif- of wood was needed for a church cot- en, grievous sometimes, and even ber work was what dominated for differences in status between different ferences. Some were very keen on the tage. When trees were felled, topped murders. Youths from different villag- many centuries. In the beginning of cottages. In one or two cases, certain church cottage being beautifully dec- and lopped, and the logs split into es could fight over women, but basi- the 17th century we can imagine the church cottages have been generous orated. Others had a more functional timber beams, cooperation was need- cally everyday life was about cooper- Church Town with 200 to 300 solely in size. Similarly, certain chambers, view of the use. ed. Cooperation was needed in trans- ation. In that way the church cottages timber church cottages and over 100 like the one on the upper floor of the porting. To erect the building and in- represent the victory of the collective timbered stables. It was like a town of two-storey church cottage 371‒372, Cooperation and revolt stall a stove with chimney required of the individual. When we look at the small, closely packed blockhouses. All are quite spacious. Also the placing It is also cooperation that stands out cooperation. Many times, two or many small church cottages, we are the timbers were un-painted except in relation to the church marked sta- as the strongest social factor when more people jointly built a church cot- looking at the collective of relatives or Confirmation studies in Gammelstad were a the parish hall where the men of the tus. For example, Framlänningsvägen one looks at how the church cottag- tage where they shared the förstuga, friends, and feel security. It is just as recurring tradition which hundreds of young people took part in. They would then stay at parish exercised autonomy, and the was popularly known as Smörbacken es have been used. Even though more while each had a chamber. More than we want to see ourselves, as part of a the church cottage together with grandmoth- hostelry courtyard where strangers (Butter Hill) because the church cot- than 60% of the church cottages in half the stables were used jointly. One collective to feel at home in. er, mother or some other relative until they checked in to spend the night. They tages were in such a fine location near the beginning of the 19th century should of course avoid romanticising. It can also be said that the week- were confirmed. were red-painted with black, tarred the church.49 Ornate carpentry on the were owned by individuals, they had There were uncooperative types who end visits to Gammelstad had the

46 47 The Individual and the Collective The Individual and the Collective topsy-turvy effect of the mediae- This is what happened for example to from the church site. The church con- ern threat was health-related. The val carnival. Myths and rituals were the Church Town in Burträsk in Väs- tinued to own the land the church chief medical officer of Norrbotten used by the lower classes to poke fun terbotten County. When burning ta- cottages stood on, and this bound wrote in his annual report for 1909 at the upper classes, which was also pers or candles were the only source them to its conservative regulations. that he hoped that the ugly church permissible during the carnival. In of light and the source of heating was At the same time, guild regulations re- cottages and outbuildings in Gam- that way, the carnival was an expres- an open fire in a fireplace inside the quired traders and craftsmen to move melstad would be torn down.52 It was sion of social protest, but also of so- cottage, the risk of fire was always to the new Luleå. The Church Town the fight against pulmonary tuber- cial control. When the carnival was present. This applied also to poorly became a cultural historical sanctuary culosis that drove him. In the tiny, over, everything went back to normal constructed chimneys. The new Luleå whose value increased year by year. cramped church cottages with their again.50 It was like this in the Church town for example has been hit by at One overriding threat in the 20th large enclosed sleeping cupboards, he Town too. At the weekend, people least three devastating fires since the century has been the general mod- saw how bacteria were given the best broke free. For some, the aquavit bot- town was moved from Gammelstad. ernisation of society. One such mod- possible breeding ground. Modern tle was opened. People started con- The Church Town too has seen sever- healthcare demanded therefore that versations with others and shared al fires, but has survived every time. the church towns be demolished. He everyday experiences which in the The next threat was in 1621, when saw it as a measure to improve public form of humour were both distort- Luleå town received its charter in health. ed and moderated. Boys walked in the centre of the Church Town. The Others saw that the fight against tu- flocks among the church cottages and town plan truly made a big hole in the berculosis could be combined with The road between Boden and Luleå, as well as the main coastal road, previously ran straight tapped on windowpanes where there church cottage conglomeration, since a preserved Church Town. One of through the Church Town. In the 1930s, the need for wider roads became a major threat to the were girls. There they could put their large square plots were laid out in ac- those was the vicar Albert Nordberg church cottages. The motorist on the picture was probably taking part in a car race in 1910. case and perhaps have the chance to cordance with the rational town plan who constantly tried to restore and lie next to a girl overnight to inves- that had been drawn up. The church preserve the church and the Church maintained in the 1950s, when they church cottages, here and there bro- tigate each other. They would lie ful- cottages east of the church were Town as a historic setting. In the had lost their earlier importance as ken up by a two-storey church cot- ly dressed and test whether they were forced to move to make room for the 1930s, when both the present E4 high- social meeting places. From the 1960s tage. What makes them so homoge- compatible, whether it was a match town construction. We can easily im- way and the road between Boden and on, some of the Church Town build- neous is that they are all red-painted for the future.51 During church feasts, agine what would have happened if Luleå ran straight through the Church ings were threatened by plans to in- with white doors, white barge boards everyday life was upside-down. Then the town had developed there up to Town, the council leadership of Ned- tegrate new housing areas amongst and door cases. That corresponds to they went back to the everyday grind the present-day. The church cottages erluleå wanted to widen the Boden the church cottages.54 Some older the usual definition of a listed build- and daily chores. would then have been but a faint rec- road. For that reason they wanted to 18th-century buildings were demol- ing. They conjure up the memory of ollection in public consciousness. The demolish about 30 church cottages as ished, but the Church Town managed the countryside as the people of Luleå Threats to the Church Town single factor that more than anything Parson Albert Nordberg contributed to pres- well as the parish storehouse. Albert overall to maintain its character. want to remember it, but which is for- Throughout its entire existence, the else saved the cultural environment ervation of the Church Town by writing the Nordberg opposed this and was giv- ever lost. And just as Astrid Lindgren church history of the parish. He also de- Church Town has lived under differ- in Gammelstad from being developed fended the physical heritage environment by en the support of The National Her- Memories of the countryside through her children's books from ent types of threats of eradication. The out of existence is the fact that the seeking support for restoration or mobilising itage Board so that demolition was Walking around in Gammelstad to- Småland created both an idealised re- earliest serious threat was the risk that harbour was too shallow. After just 30 political support when the church cottages stopped.53 But it was also true that day, you encounter relatively homo- gional and national memory of times the church cottages would burn down. years, the town was forced to move were threatened with demolition. many church cottages were poorly geneous architecture comprising low forgotten, the Church Town in Gam-

48 49 The Individual and the Collective The Individual and the Collective melstad does the same. With World status. This went hand-in-hand with But it would not be until well into borious everyday life to enjoy some church that owns the land on which Heritage status, the national treasure increasing numbers of people mov- the 20th century that the red-paint- leisure. The cottages were built pure- the church cottage stands, while the has been promoted to another divi- ing into towns or other built-up com- ed house with white corners became ly to enjoy some work-free leisure church cottage is owned by the indi- sion, to a global memorial, humanity’s munities to find a livelihood. There, a a widespread phenomenon in the time. That is how they have contin- vidual. Today the church cottages are memorial to multi-culture. nostalgic longing for the countryside countryside. The home owner move- ued to function, but the use of the not primarily used for church purpos- The church cottages in Gammel- was born. The farming culture be- ment in the 1930s contributed to this. church cottages was governed by reg- es, but for the feeling of belonging to a stad were not previously red-paint- came a nationalistic symbol of Swe- In an attempt to stop emigration to ulations concerning collective Chris- historical tradition. The timber build- ed. They were simple grey timber cab- den. That was when ethnologists trav- America, economic assistance was tian observance. It was even decided ings with their uniformly red-paint- ins. The timbers stood out with their elled around rural areas to interview granted for housebuilding, under the that the church cottages might only ed panels, their white corners and physical force, the joints exposed. The people or draw old objects. Construc- motto “egna hem” (a house of one's be used in connection with Christian Neo-Classicist doors express a collec- When staying in the church village one was cottages with red-painted planks and tion of Nordiska museet began in own). The red paint, now cheap, be- feasts and events. The individual has tive admiration for a rustic world that able to hear the latest news about what had white corners correspond to an ideal 1889, and Skansen was inaugurated in came popular all over the country. been subordinated to the collective. most have left. happened during the week. Here the indi- from the late 19th century of a homo- 1891. The flow of National Romanti- The white corners were added as a bo- The most striking impression is also In the midst of the fixed and stat- vidual measured their own values against geneous farming Sweden. It was then cism was bassooned out to the public nus.55 One might say that the expres- that the church cottages do not re- ic collective there is also space for in- collective norms. wealthy farmers began to paint their by heritage institutions via magazines sion of the modernity ideal by the flect great social differences but on the dividuality. We see it in the planning houses red to mark their economic and village associations. home owner movement, as regards contrary radiate equality. It is still the of porches and entrances. Some have placed the entrance on the gable wall, housebuilding and design, also be- others at the front. New owners re- came the ideal for the church cottages. worked the layout and changed win- Building historians who have scraped dows. Some invested in tar paper on on the doors of church cottages have their part of the roof, others kept the seen many colours other than white board roof. The Neo-Classicist church below the surface. When one draws doors of Överluleå church in Boden the timeline for the 21st century one inspired some to order a door for the sees continual formalisation and ritu- church cottage bearing the same mo- alisation of the church cottages in line tif. A hundred years later, the motif on with the desired cultural recollection. the church door was so common that The red church cottages with their it was called The Luleå Door. There is white corners have become frozen in a dynamic between the individual and a sort of endless period of modernity's collective. Certain individuals take the nostalgia. lead and set trends and fashions, but in the long run the individual is gob- The individual and the collective bled up by the collective. The church cottage has sometimes At the time of the town reloca- In the church cottages in Gammelstad, the memory of ancestral lives is preserved by keeping been described as the first weekend tion in 1648, the Church Town and some old furniture mixed among the modern-day furniture. The picture is from a farmhouse cottage of the agrarian society. Peo- An important social threshold into adult life was confirmation. It was a time when one also got to the church village entered upon their kitchen in Alvik around 1900. ple went there to leave behind the la- know people in the region for the future. It was a way to strengthen the collective. long-term marriage. After the reloca-

50 51 The Individual and the Collective The Individual and the Collective tion of the town the land which the Notes church did not own came to be called the church village. It was there the 1. Drugge & Lindgren, 2001, 203–208. with Lars Johansson from Broby, who owned cottage 343 structures were built increasingly tall- 2. Bergling 1964, 35‒40, 107‒130. with three other owners. That stable stood on the church er as society developed. Non-estab- 3. Bureus 1886 [1600], 25. estate. lished churches, shops and the council 4. Nyström 2010, 110. 20. Nordberg 1965, 320. office took over space until Gammel- 5. Bergling 1964, 52‒60. 21. Norrbottens museum, photo library. The, Gammel- stad ultimately developed into a mu- 6. Bergling 1964, 75‒79. stad. 7. Hildebrand 1891, 97–98, 121–122, 172. 22. Nordiska museet, Norrbotten vol 8, Nederluleå parish, nicipal centre reminiscent of a small 8. Land Survey, Historical maps. Map of the church estate Gammelstad by. market town. With the merger of mu- and meadows in Gammelstad, 1686. 23. Norrbottens museum, photo library. Nederluleå parish, nicipalities in 1970, this ended, and The church cottage was 9. Nyström 2010, 112 Gammelstad. one can see that the Church Town also a more refined lei- 10. Steckzén 1921, 38–47. 24. Nordiska museet, Norrbotten vol 8, Nederluleå parish, won by it. The most dominant build- sure-time forum. It corre- 11. Steckzén 1921, 70–77; Nordberg 1965, 123–124. Gammelstad by. ings in the centre were demolished, sponded to the best room 12. Nordberg 1965, 124. 25. Eneqvist 1937, 79–82. and some burned down. But the in a farmhouse, the one 13. Palmgren 2010, 4–6. 26. Land Survey, Historical maps. Map of Gammelstad, 1817. that in the past was only 14. Palmgren 2010, 4, 30. 27. Löfgren 2007, 68‒90. Church Town and the church village used on special occa- continue their ancient marriage hand- sions, and was otherwise 15. Boëthius 1927, 29; 33 ff.; Arnstberg 1976, 54–58; Andersson 28. Nordiska museet, Norrbotten vol 8, Nederluleå parish, in-hand. Where one building belongs closed to everyday ac- & Sjömar 2001; Nyström 2010, 117–118. Gammelstad by. to the Church Town, another belongs tivities. 16. Nordberg 1965, 320–321; Nordberg 1970, 754–766. 29. Nordiska museet, Norrbotten vol 8, Nederluleå parish, to the church village. They are com- 17. Domeij & Nyström & Nyström 2015, 41–46. Gammelstad by. 18. Norrbottens museum, FOAN:12b, register of church 30. Norrbottens museum, photo library. Nederluleå parish, pletely integrated with each other. of ourselves as free in relationship to the individual. It is seen as more im- cottage owners in Gammelstad, 1817; Palmgren 2010. Gammelstad. Photo: Sigurd Curman 1909. The use of the Church Town has the collective. We decide how we want portant than ever before to it preserve 19. Cottage 122 for example was owned by Mats Andersson 31. Land Survey, Historical maps. Map of Gammelstad 1817; also caused collisions between differ- to live our lives, what our homes will the genuine mediaeval character of and Pehr Persson from Björsbyn. Mats had a stable Norrbottens museum, FOAN:12b, Register of church ent types of values and regulations. be like, how we want to design our the Church Town. The church and together with Lars Elieson from Bensbyn while Pehr cottage owners, Gammelstad 1817; Palmgren 2010. It was a Catholic Christian collec- gardens. But those who have sought church cottages have become icons Persson had his own stable under cottage number 122. 32. Nordiska museet, Norrbotten vol 8, Nederluleå parish, tive that first built the church cottag- to redesign their church cottage as a for a joint heritage, but today it is in- Lars Elieson in his turn owned cottage 136 together with Gammelstad village. es in Gammelstad. Soon it became weekend cottage in the modern sense dividuals who visit church cottages, Jacob Hansson of the same village. Jacob had his own sta- 33. Land Survey, Historical maps. Map of Gammelstad 1817; transformed into a Protestant collec- have run into collective church regu- not a collective. They arrive at differ- ble and thus did not share with Lars, with whom he owned Norrbottens museum, FOAN:12b, Register of church tive, where all other religious persua- lations. One is not allowed to live in a ent times and leave at different times. a cottage. cottage owners Gammelstad 1817; Palmgren 2010. sions were banned. The regulations church cottage as one would in a sum- The challenge for the different players Cottage 364 was owned by Johan Andersson and Olof 34. Interview with Britta Nilsson, Gammelstad, Luleå for visits to church cottages became mer cottage. One may not plant bush- in the World Heritage Site is to keep Andersson from Smedsbyn. It lay on the North side of Municipality, 2019-10-23. increasingly restrictive. The individu- es, make flowerbeds or place garden the heritage alive without diminishing present-day Bakigatan street in the part where all the 35. Telephone interview with Herbert Öqvist, Långön, Luleå church cottages have been demolished and replaced by Municipality, 2020-01-25. al was punished if they did not attend furniture outside the window. its value. It is a question of preserving plots for detached homes. East of Bakigatan stood dou- 36. Interview with Lilja Hjort, Gammelstad, Luleå church services a certain number of One can even say that World Herit- the unique heritage character of the ble rows of small stables. There, Olof had an individual- Municipality, 2020-01-28. times per year. Today, the individual is age status in a way has increased the Church Town at the same time as its ly owned stable marked 364a with reference to the cottage 37. Interview with Britta Nilsson, Gammelstad, Luleå at the centre. We are used to thinking tension between the collective and use is adapted to our times. number. Johan on the other hand had a stable together Municipality,, 2019-10-23.

52 53 notes referenser

38. Nordiska museet, Norrbotten vol 8, Nederluleå parish, 48. Nordberg 1965, 320‒321. Boëthius, Gerda (1927). Studier i den nordiska timmerbygg­ Olausson, Magnus (2009). ”Haga lustpark”, i Ingrid Sjöström Gammelstad village. 49. Interview with Kaj Bergman, Gammelstad, Luleå nadskonsten från vikingatiden till 1800-talet: en un­ (red.), Haga. Ett kungligt kulturarv. Karlstad: Votum för- 39. Alm 2009, 96‒100; Olausson 2009, 40‒79. Municipality, 2018-07-30. dersökning utgående från Anders Zorns samlingar i Mora. lag i samarbete med Kungl. hovstaterna och Statens fas- 40. Ahn 1931, 42‒57. 50. Burke 1983. Stockholm: tighetsverk. 41. Interview with Kaj Bergman, Gammelstad, Luleå 51. Norrbottens museum, Private archive 393–397, Church Bureus, Johannes (1886 [1600]). Sumlen: där uthi ähro åtskil­ Steckzén, Birger (1921). ”Luleå stads historia I. 1621‒1800”, i Municipality, 2018-07-30. Town customs; Isaksson 1992, 118–131. lighe collectaneer, som uthi een och annan måtta tiäna till Steckzén, Birger & Wennerström, Henrik (1921). Luleå 42. Ahn 1931, 84‒88, 273. 52. Norrbottens museum, annual report by the chief medical antiquiteternes excolerande. Stockholm. stads historia 1621–1921. Uppsala. 43. Nordiska museet, Norrbotten vol 8, Nederluleå parish, officer of Norrbotten County for the year 1909. Luleå 1910, Burke, Peter (1983). Folklig kultur i Europa 1500–1800. Stock- Gammelstad village. 20‒21. holm: Författarförlaget. Digital sources 44. Information from historian Kaj Bergman. 53. Nyström 2010, 121. Domeij, Pär & Nyström, Jan-Olov & Nyström, Maurits (2015). Palmgren, Georg (2010). Gammelstads kyrkstad i Luleå 45. Interview with May-Britt Ruth, Lövskatan and Gammel- 54. Interview with Kaj Bergman, Gammelstad, Luleå Gammelstad. Kyrkstad och världsarv – norrländsk och euro­ kommun. Luleå: Stadsbyggnadskontoret: https://www. stad, Luleå Municipality, 2019-10-05 Municipality, 2018-07-30. peisk. Luleå: Luleå kommun. lulea.se/uppleva--gora/stadsarkivet/bocker-haften-mm/ 46. Nordiska museet, Norrbotten vol 8, Nederluleå socken, 55. Details from building antiquitarian Erica Duvensjö: Drugge, Ulf & Lindgren, Simon (2001). Med dödlig utgång. material-for-nedladdning.html Gammelstad by. https://byggnadsvard.se/fargen-genom-tiderna/ Om grova våldsbrott och sociala former i 1800-talets Sverige. Färgen genom tiderna: https://byggnadsvard.se/far- 47. Interview with Åsa Lindman, Kristina Öqvist and Harry Umeå: Umeå universitet. gen-genom-tiderna/ Öqvist, Gammelstad, Luleå Municipality, 2019-10-06. Enequist, Gerd (1937). Nedre Luledalens byar: en kulturgeo­ Dörrens historia: http://www.allmoge.se/dorrar/historia grafisk studie. Diss. Uppsala: Univ. Hildebrand, Hans (red.) (1891). Stockholms stads Jordebok: Interviews 1475–1498 : Samfundet för utg. af handskrifter rörande Recorded interview with Britta Nilsson, Gammelstad, Skandinaviens historia. Stockholm: Samson & Wallin. Luleå kommun, 2019-10-23. Isaksson, Olov & Isaksson, Folke (1992). Gammelstad: kyrk­ Recorded interview with Harry Öqvist, Gammelstad, References by vid Lule älv. Stockholm: Bonnier i samarbete med Luleå kommun, 2019-10-06. Norrbottens museum. Recorded interview with Kaj Bergman, Gammelstad, Unpublished sources Literature Lundholm, Kjell & Nyström, Maurits (red.) (1992). Luleå kom­ Luleå kommun, 2018-07-30. Ahn, Johannes von (1931). Överluleå kyrka: 1831–1931: ett Nordiska museet: muns historia 1. Från istid till 1750. Luleå: Norrbottens Recorded interview with Kristina Öqvist, Gammelstad, bidrag till Överluleå församlings historia. Luleå. Nordiska museet, Norrbotten vol 8, Nederluleå socken, museum i samarbete med Luleå kommuns kulturnämnd. Luleå kommun, 2019-10-06. Alm, Göran (2009). ”Haga stora och lilla slott. Gustav III Gammelstad by. Löfgren, Åke (2007). ”När telefonen kom till Norrbotten i slu- Recorded interview with Lilja Hjort, Gammelstad, och nyklassicismen”, i Ingrid Sjöström (red.), Haga. Ett tet av 1800-talet”, i Lars Elenius & Kristina Söderholm Luleå kommun, 2020-01-28. kungligt kulturarv. Karlstad: Votum förlag i samarbete Norrbottens museum: (red.), Samhällsförändrarna. Livsmönster, idéer och teknisk Recorded interview with Maria Hagel, Gammelstad, med Kungl. hovstaterna och Statens fastighetsverk. Norrbottens museum, FOAN:12b, Kyrkstugor ägarförteckning förändring. Luleå: Luleå tekniska universitet. Luleå kommun, 2019-09-19. Andersson, Gösta & Sjömar, Peter (2001). ”Bostad och bygg- Gammelstad 1817. Nordberg, Albert (1965). En gammal Norrbottensbygd. Anteck­ Recorded interview with May-Britt Ruth, Lövskatan och nadsteknik i timrade hus”, i (red. Sune Björklöf) Timmer­ Norrbottens museum, bildarkivet. Nederluleå socken, ningar till Luleå sockens historia I. Luleå: Norrbottens Gammelstad, Luleå kommun, 2019-10-05. huskultur – en tusenårig byggnadstradition: timmerhus­ Gammelstad. museum. Recorded interview with Stefan Ruth, Lövskatan och symposiet i Leksand och Rättvik 14-15 september 2000. Norrbottens museum, Enskilt arkiv 393–397, Kyrkstadsseder. Nordberg, Albert (1970). En gammal Norrbottens­bygd. An­ Gammelstad, Luleå kommun, 2019-10-05. Leksand: Leksand kommun, kulturförvaltningen. teckningar till Luleå sockens historia II. Luleå: Norrbottens Recorded interview with Åsa Lindman, Gammelstad, Luleå Arnstberg, Karl-Olov (1976). Datering av knuttimrade hus i Printed sources museum. kommun, 2019-10-06. Sverige. Stockholm: Nordiska museet. Norrbottens museum. Årsberättelse från förste provinsial­ Nyström, Maurits (2010). Att ta spjärn mot glömskan. Upp­sala: Interview with Herbert Öqvist, Långön, Luleå kommun, 2020- Bergling, Ragnar (1964). Kyrkstaden i övre Norrland. Umeå: läkaren i Norrbottens län för år 1909. Luleå 1910. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis (AUU), Uppsala universitet. 01-25. Skytteanska samfundet.

54 55 referenser Photographs and illustrations

Maps Sveriges geologiska undersökningar p. 21. Wooden church door to the porch of Gammelstad p. 30. Lilja Hjort beside Anna Wallgren’s former plate shelf Lantmäteriet Sveriges geologiska undersökningar. Karta över strandlinjen i church. Photograph: Lars Elenius. from chamber 477. Photograph: Anders Alm. Lantmäteriet, Historiska kartor. Karta över Gammelstad 1817. Gammelstad år 1300. p. 21. Detail of wooden church door to the porch of Gammel- p. 30. Plate shelf from chamber 477. Photograph: Karl Cajmatz. Lantmäteriet, Historiska kartor. Karta över prästbordets åkrar stad church. Photograph: Lars Elenius. Nordiska museet. och ängar i Gammelstad 1686. Tables and diagrams p. 21. Diagram of ownership shares in church cottages and p. 31. Britta Nilsson in her chamber 362. Photograph: Anders Diagram 1. Ownership shares in church cottages and stables in stables, 1817. Alm. Gammelstad, 1817. p. 22. An alley, or so-called smog between two buildings. p. 31. Memorial dish with a portrait of Anna Wallgren as a Photo­graph: Anders Alm. child from chamber 477. Photograph: Lars Elenius. p. 22. Row of stables at church cottages with trampled paths. p. 32. Överluleå church. Photograph: Lars Elenius. Photograph: Gunnar Ullenius 1930. Norrbottens museum. p. 32. Door of Överluleå church with pilaster and triangle. p. 23. Old stable on Gamla Hamngatan with roof made from Photograph: Lars Elenius. Photographs and illustrations the headers of barrels that have contained calcium sulphate. p. 32. Front door of church cottage 31 in Gammelstad with Photograph: Lars Elenius. Classical pilaster and triangle. Photograph: Karl Cajmatz. The cover photograph shows the church cottages south-west p. 13. Church cottages on the west side of the church from the p. 23. Close-up of a roof of a stable on Gamla Hamngatan Nordiska museet. of the church in Gammelstad and the church steeple. Photo- church steeple. Photograph: Bo Hellman 1941. Nordiska made from the headers of barrels. Photograph: Lars Elenius. p. 33. Oil painting of May-Britt Ruth’s parental home in graph: Lars Elenius 2020. museet. Stenudden with triangles on the front doors. Photograph: p. 14. Hostelry courtyard with härbre store and cattle shed Chapter 2. The church cottages’ designs Lars Elenius. Chapter 1. The Church Town and the church village building. Photograph: Carlsson. Nordiska museet. p. 24. Church cottages with man standing in the foreground. p. 33. Church cottage 469 on Brantgränd with painted triangle p. 4. Portrait of the author Lars Elenius. Photograph: Andre- p. 15. Detail of map of Gammelstad by surveyor Lars Peter Photograph: Albert Nordberg. Norrbottens museum. on door. Photograph: Lars Elenius. as Aarflot. Bergner, 1817. Land Survey, historical maps. p. 26. Church cottages on Linellgränd. Photograph: Sigurd p. 34. Church cottage 513 on Rutviksvägen with double P. 6. Church cottages in a row with the church steeple in the p. 15. Abandoned plots at Gamla Hamngatan and the Squa- Curman 1909. pilasters on door. Photograph: Anders Alm. background. Photograph: Elvin Enqvist. Norrbottens muse- re following the fire of 1940. Photograph: Bo Hellman 1941. p. 26. Close-up of a traditional wooden roof. Photograph: p. 35. Detail of coping for antique style window. Photograph: um. Nordiska museet. Elvin Enqvist. Norrbottens museum. Anders Alm. p. 8. Repairing a church cottage. Photograph: Anders Alm. p. 16. Johan Fredrik Östling from Sundom in cottage 121 in p. 27. Alteration of church cottage 479. Photograph: Karl p. 35. Herringbone door panel for church cottage 84. Photo- p. 9. Map of Greater Luleå parish. Cartographer: Samuel 1926. Photograph: Gunnar Ullenius, 1928. Nordiska museet. Cajmatz. Nordiska museet. graph: Anders Alm. Svärd. p. 17. The east part of the church site in Gammelstad, 1695. p. 28. Row of three two-storey church cottages on Gamla p. 10. Gammelstad Church1827. Drawing: Nils Johan Ekdahl. Drawing: Gustav Läw. The National Library. Bodenvägen. Photograph: Lars Elenius. Chapter 3. The individual and collective National Heritage Board, ATA. p. 17. Snowed in church cottages seen from the church steeple. p. 28. Church cottage 366‒37, one-storey. Photo: Carlsson. p. 36. Young boys outside a window chatting to two girls. p. 10. Timber church cottage with boy on the porch. Photo- Photograph: Elvin Enqvist. Norrbottens museum. Nordiska museet. Photo­graph: Elvin Enqvist. Norrbottens museum. graph: Albert Nordberg. P. 18. Timber church cottage on stones. Photograph: Carlsson. p. 29. Two-storey church cottage 474‒477 with the hole. Photo­ p. 38. May-Britt and Stefan Ruth arriving at the cottage. Photo- p. 11. Ship at anchor at Skeppsbron in Stockholm. Artist: Johan Nordiska museet. graph: Karl Cajmatz. Nordiska museet. graph: Anders Alm. Petter Cumelin c. 1790–1800. Stockholmskällan, Stockholm p. 18. Layout showing how a single cottage has been extended p. 29. Lilja Hjort looking out through the hole on the upper p. 39. The Church Town is burning, 1940. Photographer Town Museum. with a förstuga and chamber. Drawing: Samuel Svärd. floor of church cottage 474‒477. Photograph: Anders Alm. unknown, 1940. Norrbottens museum. p. 12. Map of the water level in Gammelstad, 1300. Carto­ P. 19. Woman walking between church cottages. Photograph: p. 29. Two-storey church cottage 474‒477 with the hole where p. 39. May-Britt Ruth in church cottage 136. Photograph: grapher: Samuel Svärd. Elvin Enqvist. Norrbottens museum. a little girl is looking out. Photograph: Karl Cajmatz. Nord- Anders Alm. p. 12. Reed beds in Gammelstadsviken. Photograph: Lars p. 20. Haymaking with Gammelstad Church Town and the iska museet. p. 40. Aina Enkvist and Maj-Lis Nordström on the sofa of Elenius. church in the background. Oil painting by Otto Hesselbom p. 30. Flatiron in Anna Wallgren’s former chamber 477. Photo- church cottage 136. Photograph: Karl Cajmatz 1948. Nordis- from around 1883-1884. Photograph: Kolonn auction house. graph: Lars Elenius. ka museet.

56 57 Photographs and illustrations Photographs and illustrations p. 41. Oil painting of Gammelstad church. Artist unknown. p. 46. Parson Albert Nordberg at his writing desk. Photograph: p. 41. Stefan and May-Britt Ruth on the sofa in church cottage Carl Gustaf Rosenberg. National Heritage Board. 136. Photograph: Anders Alm. p. 47. Early motoring on the Luleå Road. Photographer p. 42. Åsa Lindman on the sofa in church cottage 138. Photo- unknown. Luleå Municipality. graph: Anders Alm. p. 48. Family in farmhouse in Alvik at an open fireplace. Pho- p. 42. Maria Olsson, Åsa Lindman’s maternal grandmother’s tographer unknown. Swedish Tourist Association, Nordiska paternal grandmother, on the sofa in church cottage 138. museet. Photograph: Karl Cajmatz, 1948. Nordiska museet. p. 49. Girls being confirmed in Gammelstad church. Photo- p. 43. Copy of the key to church cottage 138. Photograph: Lars graph: Elvin Enqvist. Norrbottens museum. Elenius. p. 49. Group of men standing talking in the Church Town. p. 43. Door to church cottage 138 with the renowned triangle. Photograph: Elvin Enqvist. Norrbottens museum. Photograph: Elvin Enqvist. Norrbottens museum. p. 50. Elderly woman standing looking through a window in a p. 44. Two girls studying for confirmation. Photograph: Elvin church cottage. Photograph: Elvin Enqvist. Norrbottens mu- Enqvist. Norrbottens museum. seum. p. 45. Furniture being scoured outside a church cottage. Photo­graph: Elvin Enqvist. Norrbottens museum. Contact details: p. 45. Film shoot, 1928. Some men taking snaps in a smog. Visitor Centre, Luleå Municipality Photograph: Gunnar Ullenius. Norrbottens museum. www.visitgammelstad.se

58 59 Photographs and illustrations round the massive mediaeval stone church lie the many church cottages densely Apacked. In Changes in the Church Town, historian Lars Elenius describes why the church cottages were built in such a small format, and also why they were placed as they were. Topographically there are many differences between the Church Town in Gam- melstad and Gamla Stan in Stockholm. Both were built on limited area which was sur- rounded by water or waterlogged areas. In the Middle Ages, it was quite simply a neces- sity to build densely to have room for everything. When the farmers came from far away in winter, the church cottage was cold. They had to start by lighting a fire in the fireplace to warm the cottage. It was practical to have a small cottage to hate. In Changes in the Church Town, we track how the church cottages changed during dif- ferent periods. A constant stylistic feature in church cottages is the white church doors influenced by Neo-Classicism. This influence can be traced from King Gustav III, who following his travels in Italy strongly affected architecture in Sweden. For a few decades at the beginning of the 17th century, part of the church site actually was a town. It was the town of Luleå which received its charter here. This made a clear difference to the homogeneous, mediaeval Church Town. To make room for the new ur- ban grid, the church cottages that were in the way were forcibly removed. Large court- yard homestead with storehouses and cattle sheds took the place. When the town was relocated to the present-day site of Luleå, many of those buildings were also moved. The plots that the burghers still owned were now called the church village, while church land with the church cottages was called the Church Town. The relation between the two has affected the development of the Church Town. While the church village has been mod- ernised, the Church Town has kept its mediaeval character. In the design of the church cottages we see the centuries-old tug-of-war between indi- vidual and collective. Each party has also found their own aesthetic solution within the framework of the common tradition.

60