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.
The images above show:
One of the images shows a seal stamp from Gudhem Abbey. In the central field, St. Catherine of Alexandria is depicted with a small wheel in her left hand and a downward-pointing sword in her right hand. It is known that a letter was signed with this seal by Abbess Catherine in Gudhem in 1405. The seals were found during excavations in Gudhem in 1934.
The image with the ring shows a so-called pilgrim's ring found during excavations in Gudhem. The ring depicts an image of Jesus, Mary, and the evangelist John on the left.
The story in text:
You are now standing in front of the remains of what was once one of Sweden's richest convents – the Queen's favourite convent. Note the high walls and the intact arches – Gudhem is a well-preserved convent ruin.
Inside, no less than 16 altars are preserved. The Altar of Our Lady was the result of an initiative from the Queen of the Nordic Union, Margareta in 1392. In the same year she donated several villages and mills to Gudhem on condition that an Altar of Our Lady be built in the convent. A candle was to burn there constantly and the nuns were to hold requiems for the Queen and her closest circle. It was a way for the Queen to invest in the salvation of her soul. That the convent was already so big in the 14th century was due to another Queen – Katarina Sunesdotter – whose fate was fascinating!
She was daughter to the powerful Sune Folkesson of Ymseborg and after an unhappy romance in her youth she was forced to marry the ailing Erik the Lisp and Lame, who died just six weeks after the wedding. Queen Katarina then decided to become a nun and enter Gudhem convent.
Queen Katarina also made a generous donation to the convent and it is thanks to her donation it became possible to build the convent and abbey whose ruins we can see today. Katarina came to spend the rest of her days in the convent, dying in 1252. She was buried in the abbey itself. A replica of her stone tomb still stands among the ruins – see if you can find it. On the tomb, Queen Katarina is depicted in one of the foremost grave sculptures of the Middle Ages.
If you turn to look the other way, you will see Billingen mountain and nearby, at the end of the car park, you will see the low remains of a wall that was part of a square house. It was the convent’s hospice – a kind of hostel for pilgrims and travellers. The convent had a duty to receive travellers.