Viking Age royal seat: Hovgården

Hovgården is an archaeological site on the Lake Mälaren island of Adelsö, believed to have been the seat of power during the Viking Age. Hovgården, believed to have been the location of a royal estate Kungsgård as early as the Viking Age, is rich in history, spanning from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages. An excavation of one of the royal mounds in 1917 revealed the remains of a wealthy man who lived around 900. Birka, the oldest town in Sweden, was an international trade post, and it is assumed that Hovgården was established as the king’s means of controlling Birka. Hovgárden, together with Birka, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. The historical meadows at Hovgården were cultivated in the 19th century and have hardly been altered since.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons