Öland
Encyclopedia
is the second largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden
. Öland has an area of 1,342 km² and is located in the Baltic Sea
just off the coast of Småland
. The island has 25,000 inhabitants, but during Swedish Midsummer it is visited by up to 500,000 people. It is separated from the mainland by the Kalmar Strait
and connected to it by the 6 km Öland Bridge
, which opened in 1972.
serve no administrative or political purposes, but are historical and cultural entities. Öland is part of the administrative county
Kalmar County
(Kalmar län) and is divided in two municipalities
, Borgholm Municipality
and Mörbylånga Municipality
. There was an Öland County
in the short period between 1819 and 1826; otherwise, the island has been part of Kalmar County since 1634.
(autonomous) province, kept its established but originally unintended coat of arms. The deer is meant to symbolise the status of Öland as a royal game park
and the arms are topped by a ducal crown. Blazon: "Azure a Deer Or attired, hoofed and gorged Gules."
era showing the presence of hunter-gatherer
s. In the early Stone Age
, settler
s from the mainland migrated across the ice bridge
that connected the island across the Kalmar Strait
.
Evidence of habitation of Öland (known in earlier times as Oelandia) occurred at least as early as 6000 BC, when there were stone age settlements at Alby
and other locations on the island. Burial grounds from the Iron Age through the Viking Age
are clearly visible at Gettlinge
, Hulterstad
and other places on the perimeter ridge including stone ship
s.
There are nineteen Iron Age
ringfort
s identified on the island, only one of which, Eketorp
, has been completely excavated, yielding over 24,000 artifacts.
Around 900 AD, Wulfstan of Hedeby
called the island "Eowland", the land of the Eowans:
However, this is not the first mention of the Eowans. There is an even earlier mention of the tribe in the Anglo-Saxon
poem Widsith
:
Scholars such as Schütte http://www.northvegr.org/lore/sagabook/n002.php and Kendrick http://www.northvegr.org/lore/history_viking/019.php have pointed out that there was probably an even earlier mention of the people of Öland in 98 AD, by Tacitus
, who called them the "Aviones":
In Swedish history, the island long served as a royal game park; Ottenby
and Halltorps were in particular selected by the Swedish Crown in the Middle Ages
as royal game reserves.
, a limestone pavement
which is the habitat
of numerous rare
and endangered species
. The first known scientific study of the biota
of the Stora Alvaret occurred in the year 1741 with the visit of Linnaeus.
The underlying bedrock layer is mainly Cambrian
sandstone
and alum chert
, and Ordovician
limestone
that dates from an approximate range of 540 to 450 million years ago. The Cambrian trilobite
Eccaparadoxides oelandicus is named after Öland
Öland is served by a perimeter highway, Route 136
.
In 2011 the Gripen Gas company filed a request for test drilling on Öland for natural gas. The request was approved by Bergsstaten, the governmental agency responsible for handling geological issues regarding prospecting. The approval has been met with critique on the municipal and county administrative levels, citing that the many cracks in the limestone bedrock could cause the groundwater to become contaminated by the gas prospecting.
was built between 1669 and 1681 for Queen Hedvig Eleonora
, and designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder
. In its vicinity sits the Solliden Palace
, summer home to the royal family
.
The limestone pavement
habitat of southern Öland, known as Stora Alvaret
. has been entered as a site of the UNESCO
World Heritage program. Features of this are the many rare species
found; prehistory
sites such as Gettlinge
and Eketorp
; numerous old wooden windmill
s left standing, some of which date to the 17th century; and the special geological alvar
landscape.
For a decade, Öland has been organizing an annual harvest festival called Skördefesten that takes place every October. In terms of this event, the island's farmer
s gather with farmers from the rest of the country and sell their crops and let those that are interested take part in everyday life on their farms, among other activities. There are also many art exhibitions for display during Skördefesten especially during the art night Konstnatten.
The romantic poet Erik Johan Stagnelius
was born in the Öland parish of Gärdslösa in 1793 and lived there until 16 years of age. He wrote several poems about the island. More modern writers living on or writing about Öland include novelist Margit Friberg (1904–1997), poet Anna Rydstedt (1928–1994), novelist Birgitta Trotzig
(1929-2011), poet Lennart Sjögren (1930-), children novelist Eva Bexell (1945-), poet Tom Hedlund (1945-), novelist Johan Theorin
(1963-), poet and novelist Magnus Utvik (1964-) and novelist Per Planhammar (1965-).
festival on Öland, held every September, which attracts thousands of visitors. Pumpkins are placed upon the top of bales of hay, a signal to buyers that fall harvest goods are available for sale at the location. In Borgholm, a pumpagubbe (pumpkin man), a large scarecrow like figure, built entirely of gourds, is erected at town center. The pumpagubbe celebrates the bounty of the Fall Harvest.
Provinces of Sweden
The provinces of Sweden, landskap, are historical, geographical and cultural regions. Sweden has 25 provinces and they have no administrative function, but remain historical legacies and the means of cultural identification....
. Öland has an area of 1,342 km² and is located in the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
just off the coast of Småland
Småland
' is a historical province in southern Sweden.Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small Lands. . The latinized form Smolandia has been used in other languages...
. The island has 25,000 inhabitants, but during Swedish Midsummer it is visited by up to 500,000 people. It is separated from the mainland by the Kalmar Strait
Kalmar Strait
The Kalmar Strait, Kalmarsund, is a strait in the Baltic Sea, located between the Swedish island of Öland and the province of Småland of the Swedish mainland...
and connected to it by the 6 km Öland Bridge
Öland bridge
The Öland Bridge is a road bridge connecting Kalmar on mainland Sweden to Färjestaden on the island of Öland to its east. At long, it is one of the longest in all of Europe...
, which opened in 1972.
Administration
The traditional provinces of SwedenProvinces of Sweden
The provinces of Sweden, landskap, are historical, geographical and cultural regions. Sweden has 25 provinces and they have no administrative function, but remain historical legacies and the means of cultural identification....
serve no administrative or political purposes, but are historical and cultural entities. Öland is part of the administrative county
Counties of Sweden
The Counties of Sweden are the first level administrative and political subdivisions of Sweden. Sweden is divided into 21 counties. The counties were established in 1634 on Count Axel Oxenstierna's initiative, superseding the historical provinces of Sweden to introduce a modern administration...
Kalmar County
Kalmar County
Kalmar County is a county or län in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Kronoberg, Jönköping, Blekinge and Östergötland. To the east in the Baltic Sea is the island Gotland....
(Kalmar län) and is divided in two municipalities
Municipalities of Sweden
The municipalities of Sweden are the local government entities of Sweden. The current 290 municipalities are organized into 21 counties...
, Borgholm Municipality
Borgholm Municipality
Borgholm Municipality is a municipality in Kalmar County, south-eastern Sweden, constituting the northern half of the island of Öland in the Baltic Sea...
and Mörbylånga Municipality
Mörbylånga Municipality
Mörbylånga Municipality is a municipality in Kalmar County, in south-eastern Sweden, located on the island of Öland in the Baltic Sea. The seat is located in the town of Mörbylånga, while the largest town is Färjestaden....
. There was an Öland County
Öland County
Öland County, or Ölands län, was a county of Sweden, between 1819 and 1826. It consisted of the island of Öland, designating the historical province of Öland as its own county...
in the short period between 1819 and 1826; otherwise, the island has been part of Kalmar County since 1634.
Heraldry
Öland was granted provincial arms in 1560, but it would not be until the 1940s that the province was assigned its proper ones. The arms granted to Öland had been mixed up with the arms granted to Åland and this was not discovered until the 20th century. While Öland changed its coat of arms, Åland, which was now a FinnishFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
(autonomous) province, kept its established but originally unintended coat of arms. The deer is meant to symbolise the status of Öland as a royal game park
Game Park
Game Park is a South Korean company that was founded in 1996 and went bankrupt in March 2007. It is responsible for creating the GP32 and the never-released XGP. Gamepark Holdings was founded by former employees of Game Park in 2005.-Foundation:...
and the arms are topped by a ducal crown. Blazon: "Azure a Deer Or attired, hoofed and gorged Gules."
History
Archaeological evidence indicates the island of Öland was settled about 8000 BC, with excavations dating from the PaleolithicPaleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
era showing the presence of hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s. In the early Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
, settler
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
s from the mainland migrated across the ice bridge
Ice bridge
An ice bridge is a frozen natural structure formed over seas, bays, rivers or lake surfaces. They facilitate migration of animals or people over a water body that was previously uncrossable by terrestrial animals, including humans. The most significant ice bridges are formed by glaciation, spanning...
that connected the island across the Kalmar Strait
Kalmar Strait
The Kalmar Strait, Kalmarsund, is a strait in the Baltic Sea, located between the Swedish island of Öland and the province of Småland of the Swedish mainland...
.
Evidence of habitation of Öland (known in earlier times as Oelandia) occurred at least as early as 6000 BC, when there were stone age settlements at Alby
Alby, Öland
Alby is a village on the Baltic Sea in the Hulterstad district at the western fringe of the Stora Alvaret. Archaeological evidence indicates this settlement to have been one of the oldest on the island of Öland, with excavations, dating to the paleolithic era, showing the presence of...
and other locations on the island. Burial grounds from the Iron Age through the Viking Age
Viking Age
Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...
are clearly visible at Gettlinge
Gettlinge
Gettlinge is a village in the southwest portion of the island of Öland, Sweden. It is known for its impressive Viking stone ship burial ground. Gettlinge is situated on the western fringe of the Stora Alvaret, a World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO. The site is readily visible from the...
, Hulterstad
Hulterstad
Hulterstad is a small coastal town on the southeastern part of the island of Öland, Sweden. Hulterstad is situated at the eastern fringe of the Stora Alvaret, a limestone pavement habitat which hosts a diversity of rare plants and has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO...
and other places on the perimeter ridge including stone ship
Stone ship
The Stone ship or ship setting was an early Germanic burial custom, characteristically Scandinavian but also found in Germany and the Baltic states. The grave or cremation burial is surrounded by tightly or loosely fit slabs or stones in the outline of a ship...
s.
There are nineteen Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
ringfort
Ringfort
Ringforts are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Iron Age , although some were built as late as the Early Middle Ages . They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland...
s identified on the island, only one of which, Eketorp
Eketorp
Eketorp is an Iron Age fort in southeastern Öland, Sweden, which was extensively reconstructed and enlarged in the Middle Ages. Throughout the ages the fortification has served a variety of somewhat differing uses: from defensive ringfort, to medieval safe haven and thence a cavalry garrison...
, has been completely excavated, yielding over 24,000 artifacts.
Around 900 AD, Wulfstan of Hedeby
Wulfstan of Hedeby
Wulfstan of Hedeby was a late ninth century traveller and trader. His travel accounts, as well as those of another trader, Ohthere, were included in Alfred the Great's translation of Orosius' Histories...
called the island "Eowland", the land of the Eowans:
However, this is not the first mention of the Eowans. There is an even earlier mention of the tribe in the Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon literature
Old English literature encompasses literature written in Old English in Anglo-Saxon England, in the period from the 7th century to the Norman Conquest of 1066. These works include genres such as epic poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, legal works, chronicles, riddles, and others...
poem Widsith
Widsith
Widsith is an Old English poem of 144 lines that appears to date from the 9th century, drawing on earlier oral traditions of Anglo-Saxon tale singing. The only text of the fragment is copied in the Exeter Book, a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late 10th century containing...
:
Scholars such as Schütte http://www.northvegr.org/lore/sagabook/n002.php and Kendrick http://www.northvegr.org/lore/history_viking/019.php have pointed out that there was probably an even earlier mention of the people of Öland in 98 AD, by Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
, who called them the "Aviones":
In Swedish history, the island long served as a royal game park; Ottenby
Ottenby
Ottenby is a nature reserve at the southern tip of the island of Öland in Sweden. Ottenby was previously a royal game reserve stocked with fallow deer, and King Charles X Gustav of Sweden built a drystone wall to confine the native deer...
and Halltorps were in particular selected by the Swedish Crown in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
as royal game reserves.
Geography
Öland is the second largest of the islands of Sweden and was historically divided into one chartered city and five hundreds.Cities and villages
- AlbyAlby, ÖlandAlby is a village on the Baltic Sea in the Hulterstad district at the western fringe of the Stora Alvaret. Archaeological evidence indicates this settlement to have been one of the oldest on the island of Öland, with excavations, dating to the paleolithic era, showing the presence of...
- BorgholmBorgholmBorgholm is a city and the seat of Borgholm Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 3,093 inhabitants in 2005. It is located on the island of Öland in the Baltic Sea....
(1816) - GettlingeGettlingeGettlinge is a village in the southwest portion of the island of Öland, Sweden. It is known for its impressive Viking stone ship burial ground. Gettlinge is situated on the western fringe of the Stora Alvaret, a World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO. The site is readily visible from the...
- HulterstadHulterstadHulterstad is a small coastal town on the southeastern part of the island of Öland, Sweden. Hulterstad is situated at the eastern fringe of the Stora Alvaret, a limestone pavement habitat which hosts a diversity of rare plants and has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO...
- FärjestadenFärjestadenFärjestaden is a locality situated in Mörbylånga Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 4,636 inhabitants in 2005. It is located in the southern part on the island of Öland and is named after the ferries that used to be the only connection to the mainland...
- MörbylångaMörbylångaMörbylånga is a locality situated on the southern part of the island of Öland and is the seat of Mörbylånga Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 1,784 inhabitants in 2005....
- EriksöreEriksöreEriksöre is a village located on the island of Öland, Sweden. It is also part of the annual harvest festival on the island.The village is located about 3 miles away from the next town, Färjestaden, right at the foot of Ölandsbron...
- Stenåsa
- Segerstad
- Seby
- Södra Sandby
- Norra möckleby
- Bläsinge
- GårdbyGårdbyGårdby is a locality situated in Mörbylånga Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 262 inhabitants in 2005....
- OttenbyOttenbyOttenby is a nature reserve at the southern tip of the island of Öland in Sweden. Ottenby was previously a royal game reserve stocked with fallow deer, and King Charles X Gustav of Sweden built a drystone wall to confine the native deer...
- KöpingsvikKöpingsvikKöpingsvik is a locality situated in Borgholm Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 609 inhabitants in 2005. It is located about 4 km east of the city of Borgholm on the island Öland....
Hundreds
- Algutsrum Hundred
- Gräsgård Hundred
- Möckleby Hundred
- Runsten Hundred
- Slättbo Hundred
- Åkerbo Hundred
Facts
- Highest Hill: Högsrum (55 meters)
- Largest lake: Hornssjön
- Length: 137 km
- Width (at widest point): 16 km
Environment
The dominant environmental feature of the island is the Stora AlvaretStora Alvaret
The Stora Alvaret is a limestone barren plain on the island of Öland, Sweden. Because of the thin soil mantle and high pH levels, a great assortment of vegetation is found including numerous rare species. Stora Alvaret has been designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO due to its...
, a limestone pavement
Alvar
An alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse vegetation. It is also known as a pavement barren although this term is also used for similar landforms based on sandstone. In the United Kingdom the exposed landform is called a limestone...
which is the habitat
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
of numerous rare
Rare species
A rare species is a group of organisms that are very uncommon or scarce. This designation may be applied to either a plant or animal taxon, and may be distinct from the term "endangered" or "threatened species" but not "extinct"....
and endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
. The first known scientific study of the biota
Biota (ecology)
Biota are the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biota of the Earth lives in the biosphere.-See...
of the Stora Alvaret occurred in the year 1741 with the visit of Linnaeus.
The underlying bedrock layer is mainly Cambrian
Cambrian
The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...
sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
and alum chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
, and Ordovician
Ordovician
The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago . It follows the Cambrian Period and is followed by the Silurian Period...
limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
that dates from an approximate range of 540 to 450 million years ago. The Cambrian trilobite
Trilobite
Trilobites are a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period , and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before...
Eccaparadoxides oelandicus is named after Öland
Öland is served by a perimeter highway, Route 136
Route 136 (Öland, Sweden)
Route 136 is the perimeter highway on the island of Öland, Sweden. This facility is a paved two lane structure that circumnavigates the entire island. This highway constitutes the majority of named highway coverage on the island. Route 136 connects to Route 137 somewhat east of the Öland bridge,...
.
In 2011 the Gripen Gas company filed a request for test drilling on Öland for natural gas. The request was approved by Bergsstaten, the governmental agency responsible for handling geological issues regarding prospecting. The approval has been met with critique on the municipal and county administrative levels, citing that the many cracks in the limestone bedrock could cause the groundwater to become contaminated by the gas prospecting.
Culture
The Borgholm CastleBorgholm Castle
Borgholm Castle in Borgholm, Sweden, is today only a ruin of the fortress that was first built in the second half of the 12th century and many times rebuilt in later centuries. It is linked to Halltorps estate, somewhat to the south...
was built between 1669 and 1681 for Queen Hedvig Eleonora
Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp
Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp was the queen consort of King Charles X of Sweden and queen mother of King Charles XI...
, and designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder
Nicodemus Tessin the Elder
Nicodemus Tessin the Elder was an important Swedish architect.-Biography:Nicodemus Tessin was born in Stralsund in Pomerania and came to Sweden as a young man. There he met and worked with the architect Simon de la Vallée...
. In its vicinity sits the Solliden Palace
Solliden Palace
Solliden Palace is the summer residence of the Swedish Royal Family. It is situated on the island of Öland, southern Sweden....
, summer home to the royal family
Bernadotte
The House of Bernadotte, the current royal house of Sweden, has reigned since 1818. Between 1818 and 1905, it was also the royal house of the Norway...
.
The limestone pavement
Limestone pavement
A limestone pavement is a natural karst landform consisting of a flat, incised surface of exposed limestone that resembles an artificial pavement. The term is mainly used in the UK where many of these landforms have developed distinctive surface patterning resembling block of paving...
habitat of southern Öland, known as Stora Alvaret
Stora Alvaret
The Stora Alvaret is a limestone barren plain on the island of Öland, Sweden. Because of the thin soil mantle and high pH levels, a great assortment of vegetation is found including numerous rare species. Stora Alvaret has been designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO due to its...
. has been entered as a site of the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage program. Features of this are the many rare species
Rare species
A rare species is a group of organisms that are very uncommon or scarce. This designation may be applied to either a plant or animal taxon, and may be distinct from the term "endangered" or "threatened species" but not "extinct"....
found; prehistory
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
sites such as Gettlinge
Gettlinge
Gettlinge is a village in the southwest portion of the island of Öland, Sweden. It is known for its impressive Viking stone ship burial ground. Gettlinge is situated on the western fringe of the Stora Alvaret, a World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO. The site is readily visible from the...
and Eketorp
Eketorp
Eketorp is an Iron Age fort in southeastern Öland, Sweden, which was extensively reconstructed and enlarged in the Middle Ages. Throughout the ages the fortification has served a variety of somewhat differing uses: from defensive ringfort, to medieval safe haven and thence a cavalry garrison...
; numerous old wooden windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
s left standing, some of which date to the 17th century; and the special geological alvar
Alvar
An alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse vegetation. It is also known as a pavement barren although this term is also used for similar landforms based on sandstone. In the United Kingdom the exposed landform is called a limestone...
landscape.
For a decade, Öland has been organizing an annual harvest festival called Skördefesten that takes place every October. In terms of this event, the island's farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
s gather with farmers from the rest of the country and sell their crops and let those that are interested take part in everyday life on their farms, among other activities. There are also many art exhibitions for display during Skördefesten especially during the art night Konstnatten.
The romantic poet Erik Johan Stagnelius
Erik Johan Stagnelius
Erik Johan Stagnelius was born October 14, 1793 in Gärdslösa, on the island Öland, Sweden, and died on April 3, 1823 in Stockholm. He was a Romantic poet and playwright....
was born in the Öland parish of Gärdslösa in 1793 and lived there until 16 years of age. He wrote several poems about the island. More modern writers living on or writing about Öland include novelist Margit Friberg (1904–1997), poet Anna Rydstedt (1928–1994), novelist Birgitta Trotzig
Birgitta Trotzig
Birgitta Trotzig was a Swedish writer who was elected to the Swedish Academy in 1993. She was one of Sweden's most celebrated authors, and wrote prose fiction and non-fiction, as well as prose poetry.-Biography:...
(1929-2011), poet Lennart Sjögren (1930-), children novelist Eva Bexell (1945-), poet Tom Hedlund (1945-), novelist Johan Theorin
Johan Theorin
Johan Theorin is a journalist and author, born in 1963 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Throughout his life, Johan Theorin has been a regular visitor to the island of Öland in the Baltic sea...
(1963-), poet and novelist Magnus Utvik (1964-) and novelist Per Planhammar (1965-).
Skördefest
Skördefest is an annual harvestHarvest
Harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper...
festival on Öland, held every September, which attracts thousands of visitors. Pumpkins are placed upon the top of bales of hay, a signal to buyers that fall harvest goods are available for sale at the location. In Borgholm, a pumpagubbe (pumpkin man), a large scarecrow like figure, built entirely of gourds, is erected at town center. The pumpagubbe celebrates the bounty of the Fall Harvest.
External links
- Köpingsvik.se - Facts about Köpingsvik, Öland
- Olandsturist.nu - Rent a home.
- Mitt Öland - Öland guide with local news, weather forecast, TV-guide and current events.
- Öland - Tourist site
- World Heritage profile