This tour takes you though medieval Skaraborg, where you will get an insight into what society looked like in the Middle Ages. In some places, you can use Augmented Reality to see 3D models of archaeological objects. You need to be at the location to be able to see these.
First, listen to the story and then click on the AR symbol in the image above.
This will bring up a 3D model of a weight. In a time when weight determined the value of coins and precious metals, scales and weights were the best friends of traders. It was not uncommon for smaller weights to have artistic designs, such as an ox in this case. This particular weight was found during the excavation of the courtyard of Skara Grammar School in 1869.
The Story in Text
Skara is one of the very oldest towns in Sweden. In the Icelandic Gunnlög Ormstunga’s Saga, Skara is mentioned as early as the year 1000.
From Konungahälla, Gunnlög now took a guide up in Västergötland and arrived at the market town that is called Skara. There ruled a nobleman whose name was Sigurd, a man of advanced years …the West Götar said that no nobleman was more elevated and renowned than Sigurd.
Early in the Middle Ages, the market town of Skara also became a church town when the bishop moved his seat to the town and construction of the cathedral began.What is considered Sweden’s oldest surviving book also dates back to that time – the Skara Missal. It is a Mass book with the texts sung in a church service, all in Latin.The Missal may have been made in connection with the cathedral inauguration in 1150. Today one part of the book is in Västergötland Museum and the other in Skara Diocesan and National Library here in Skara.
Mediaeval Skara had a population of perhaps 700 – a large town by Swedish standards. Dwellings were crowded and the smell of manure and waste was overwhelming.
But it was also a meeting-place for rich merchants working in commerce. Weights were a merchant’s best friends and several sets have been found in the soil of Skara, some of them shaped like horses and bulls. A spoon of silver is another find testifying to Skara’s rich past …
Market day in Skara means a throng of merchants, farmers and tradesmen, as well as monks, people of the church, children, jesters and animals. Above the noise of the crowds one can hear strange songs and new musical instruments which have come to Skara together with commodities from the Continent via Lödöse. When the king is in town he stays at Gälakvist stronghold. At the town's highest point stands the cathedral. The steeple that towers above the town marks the town centre and is a landmark for visitors.
Inside the museum you can visit the exhibition Skara in the Middle Ages