The Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland, a World Heritage property, is made up of 56,000 hectare of arable land, grazing lands, villages, ancient fortresses and bodies of water. People have tilled the land for millennia, and left their mark on a unique cultural and natural landscape with traces from different ages, side-by-side with a still thriving agricultural community.

Öland is the forth largest island in the Baltic Sea, and the World Heritage property makes up a third of it. Although islanders began tilling the earth during the Stone Age (around 3000-1800 B.C.), the usage of land remains largely the same. Farming and stock-raising continues to be central.

The land on Öland was divided during the Middle Ages (1100-1400 A.C.) between village ground, arable land and grazing land. These were linear villages established according to a system called "laga läge," which were common sights throughout Eastern Sweden at the time. In the linear village, each farm plot faced the main street in the village, and the plot's width became a measure of how many "shares" the household had in the village. The farms are generally surrounded by buildings, of typical Geatish character.

There usually was a vast field in conjunction to the linear village, which was collectively owned and supplied fodder for house animals in the winter. The field was delimited and protected from grazing wild animals with stone walls. This village system remained until the early 19th century, when a new system was introduced. The purpose for the change was to distribute the land so all villagers had access to the different types of grounds: fields, marshes and subsoil. At this time, islanders erected the stone walls that are representative of Öland.

The fringe grounds have been utilized for grazing since the early Stone Age. They were public property for the villagers and constituted of marshes and the alvars, which are flat areas with bare rock breaking through the thin limestone soil. The alvars are a distinguishing trait in the outlying grounds. The Great Alvar Plain Stora Alvaret is a salient feature with its distinct climate conditions and grounds marked by thousands of years of grazing. Also the marshes, near the arable land, were exploited for grazing and hay-making. You can still see intact traces of Iron Age settlements in shape of stone walls, house foundations and graves.

The Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland became a World Heritage property in the year 2000. The World Heritage committee's motivation:

"The landscape of Southern Öland takes its contemporary form from its long cultural history, adapting to the physical constraints of the geology and topography. Southern Öland is an outstanding example of human settlement, making the optimum use of diverse landscape types on a single island."

Contact

Kalmar County Administrative Board Phone: +46-480-820 00. Öland Tourist Council Phone: +46-485-560600.

Contact:

See also:
The Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland - UNESCO.