“The Russian Prison”

This house is called Ryssfängelset, which means ”The Russian prison” in Swedish. Paradoxically, it never had anything to do with either Russia or prison. It was built in the 18th century as a miners’ cottage for four families. Each family - two adults and usually 4-5 children - shared one room and these rooms were quite modest in size. It was by no means a comfortable living, but still no prison. The house got its name because of its extremely strong one meter thick stone walls which would be more suitable for a prison rather than a dwelling. This house along with other miners’ cottages was transformed into a holiday home when the Utö mining era was over.