Gamla Uppsala

One of Sweden's most significant archaeological sites, located 5 km north of modern Uppsala, serving as a major religious, economic, and political centre from the 3rd century AD onward. The site is dominated by three Royal Mounds dating to the 5th-6th centuries, originally part of a burial field of 2,000-3,000 mounds of which only 250 remain. Excavation of the Western Mound in 1874 yielded warrior equipment and remains adorned in golden threads. According to Adam of Bremen (c. 1070), a magnificent gold-adorned pagan temple here honoured Thor, Odin, and Freyr. Sweden's first Archbishopric was established here in 1164, and in 2019, two Viking Age boat graves were discovered.