Gnisvärd (also referred to as Gnisvärd and Smågårde), is a

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

in Tofta on the central west coast of the island of

Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...

, Sweden. Gnisvärd is mostly known for its

stone ship The stone ship or ship setting was an early burial custom in Scandinavia, Northern Germany, and the Baltic states. The grave or cremation burial was surrounded by slabs or stones in the shape of a boat or ship. The ships vary in size and were ...

s and harbor.

Geography

Gnisvärd is a small fishing village in the Tofta

socken Socken ( or ) is the name used for a part of a counties of Sweden, county in Sweden. In Denmark, similar areas are known as , in Norway or and in Finland or . A is a rural area formed around a church, typically in the Middle Ages. A socken ...

on the west coast of Gotland. It also includes the neighboring settlement Smågårde, about inland from Gnisvärd. The natural harbor, south of the modern manmade, was originally sheltered by a reef. A manmade harbor with a

breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island, Antarctica * Breakwater Islands, Nunavut, Canada * ...

was constructed in 1931. An extension of the harbor for

pleasure craft Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, suc ...

was added later. North of the harbor is the long, sandy Gnisvärd beach. , Gnisvärd Chapel belongs to Eskelhem-Tofta

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in Eskelhems

pastorat The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest Lu ...

, along with the churches in Eskelhem and Tofta. One of the

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

s in the

main belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centered on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids ...

, 10814 Gnisvärd, is named after this place.

History

Gnisvärd was first used as a harbor during the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

. Along the north road to Gnisvärd are some of the best preserved

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

stone ships on Gotland. Formerly one of Gotland's biggest fishing villages, Gnisvärd is made up of about 40 cottages of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

or wood, which line both sides of the narrow road running parallel to the beach. Most of the cottages were built during the 20th century. At the rear of the cottages are enclosed areas for drying

fishing net A fishing net or fish net is a net (device), net used for fishing. Fishing nets work by serving as an improvised fish trap, and some are indeed rigged as traps (e.g. #Fyke nets, fyke nets). They are usually wide open when deployed (e.g. by cast ...

s. The importance of the village reached its height when

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

fishing peaked: in 1600–1680, 1747–1809 and 1877–1906. The most renowned fishing was at the ''Laggrundet'' ("Lag shallow") at the end of the 19th century, where large quantities of fish spawned during April and May. Opportunities for

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

and

flounder Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuary, estuaries. Taxonomy The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related speci ...

fishing were also historically good in Gnisvärd. The Gnisvärd Chapel, also known as the ''Strandkyrkan'' ("Beach Church"), was built in 1839 on the site of an earlier wooden chapel, probably dating from the 1600s.

Fälting-Lotte

One of the more noted persons from Gnisvärd was Anna Chartlotta Ganström (30March 183714September 1912), also known as Fälting-Lotte. The daughter of a

boatswain A boatswain ( , ), bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, or the third hand on a fishing vessel, is the most senior Naval rating, rate of the deck department and is responsible for the ...

, Fälting started out as a maid and later became one of Gotland's first female professional fishermen.

Etymology

Gnisvärd is sometimes referred to as "Gnidsvärd", a combination of the Swedish ''gnid'' ("rub" or "wipe") and ''svärd'' ("sword"). The origin of this name is explained in old documents collected by the priest Hans Nielsön Strelow (158727February 1656) and recorded in the 1633 chronicle ''Chronica Guthilandorum''. According to the text, Gotland suffered badly from sea-borne attacks by German pirates during the 17th century. The pirates also occupied the two islands of

Stora Karlsö Stora Karlsö is a small Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, situated about west of the island of Gotland and part of Eksta socken. Environment Stora Karlsö has an area of about . It is mainly a limestone plateau, up to in height, bordered by ...

and

Lilla Karlsö Lilla Karlsö is a small Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, situated about off the west coast of Gotland and from Stora Karlsö; it is part of Eksta socken. During summer there are tour boats from Djupvik south of Klintehamn. Environment The ...

, southwest of Gnisvärd. The Gotlandic chieftains finally had enough and united in a counterattack on the pirates. Gierre from Sjonhem and Bogke, supplied his brother Hangvar with 18 manned ships, and made him commander of the campaign. They sailed from Bogeviken and attacked the pirates at the two islands where they killed them all and burned their 80 ships. When they returned to land after a successful campaign, they wiped their swords clean of the blood of their enemies in the white sand at "''Gnidesuerdshaffn''"—''Gnidsvärd''.

Stone ships

The stone ships in Gnisvärd (the ''Gnisvärds skeppssättningar'') date to the later Bronze Age and are some of the best preserved stone ships on the island. Located just south of the north road to the fishing village, one of them is the largest on Gotland, measuring in length and in breadth. Consisting of about 100 closely packed, erected stones, the

bow BOW as an acronym may refer to: * Bag of waters, amniotic sac * Bartow Municipal Airport (IATA:BOW), a public use airport near Bartow, Florida, United States * Basic operating weight of an aircraft * BOW counties, made of Brown, Outagamie, and Winn ...

and

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

stones are the largest at approximately . The stone ship is located between two smaller, round

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

s. About south of the largest stone ship lies another, and wide, surrounded by two small stone circles, a stone

tumulus A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

in diameter and a smaller, slightly damaged stone ship. Approximately east of the first stone ship is a burial site consisting of one tumulus and eight round stone circles. There is also a large stone tumulus, in diameter and high, halfway between the stone ships and the fishing village. North of the stone ships is the only

megalithic tomb A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging geographically f ...

on Gotland dating to 3600–2900 BC. Excavations at the site have revealed the remains of several people from different time periods up until 85 AD, making it a collective grave that has been reused several times. The largest of the stone ships is positioned with its "prow" facing the tomb. Since the stone ship was constructed after the tomb, it has been suggested that this could have been done to "moor" the ship to an older and revered place.

False stone ship

Between the original stone ships and the beach is an enormous construction () that looks like a stone ship. However, this construction is not listed by the

Swedish National Heritage Board The Swedish National Heritage Board (; RAÄ) is a Swedish government agency responsible for World Heritage Sites and other national heritage monuments and historical environments. It is governed by the Ministry of Culture. The goals of the agen ...

Gallery

File:Megalith tomb Gnisvärd winter.jpg, The megalith tomb in winter File:Havet utanför Gnisvärd Gotland.jpg, Part of the reef protecting the Viking Age harbor File:Stuga Gnisvärd.jpg, Cottage north of the fishing village File:Gnisvärds kapell (3) Gotland.jpg, Gnisvärd Chapel File:GotlandFiskelagen-Gnisvard-3.jpg, Area for drying nets behind one of the rows of cottages

References

External links

Academic paper on the Gnisvärd stone ships, with maps and pictures
(In Swedish with English summary) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gnisvard Populated places in Gotland County