Lojsta is a populated area, a

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 ...

(not to be confused with

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 ...

), on the Swedish 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 ...

. It comprises the same area as the administrative Lojsta District, established on 1January 2016. The

rift valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear ...

landscape of Lojsta is unusual for Gotland and the area contains the highest point, as well as some of the deepest lakes, on the island. Sweden's only native wild

ponies A pony is a type of small horse, usually measured under a specified height at maturity. Ponies often have thicker coats, manes and tails, compared to larger horses, and proportionally shorter legs, wider barrels, heavier , thicker necks and s ...

have their natural habitat in an animal reserve in Lojsta.

Geography

Lojsta is the name of a larger area surrounding

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

Lojsta Church, the Lojsta socken. Lojsta is north of

Hemse Hemse is a locality situated on the Swedish island of Gotland with 1,700 inhabitants in 2014. It is the second largest locality (after Visby) on the island. Hemse is the main center of population in the southern part of the island, and it is know ...

in the middle of southern Gotland. The forested north part of the socken, the Lojsta Heath, contains the highest hills on Gotland. The highest point has an elevation of . The southern part of Lojsta has farmed land in the valleys between the

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) ...

cliffs. In the east, the landscape is peculiar for Gotland, with high almost vertical cliffs by the Lojsta Lakes. The Tonnklint Nature Reserve and the ''Lojsta prästänge'' are situated in Lojsta. , Lojsta Church belongs to Lojsta

in Fardhems

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 ...

Lojsta Moor

The main part of this forested moor is in Lojsta, but it also reaches into the neighboring

Etelhem Etelhem is a populated area, a socken (not to be confused with parish), on the Swedish island of Gotland. It comprises the same area as the administrative Etelhem District, established on 1January 2016. Geography Etelhem is the name of the soc ...

Klinte Klinte is a populated socken on the Swedish island of Gotland. It comprises the same area as the administrative Klinte District, established on 1January 2016. Geography Klinte is the name of the socken as well as the district. It was also the ...

and

Fröjel Fröjel () is a populated area, a ''socken'' (not to be confused with parish), on the Swedish island of Gotland. It comprises the same area as the administrative Fröjel District, established on 1January 2016. In 2014, it had a population of 358. ...

sockens. The area is mainly gravel and sand deposited there by the moving

ice sheet In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacier, glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are the Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet. Ice s ...

during the latest

Ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

. of the moor is classified as an animal reserve for the wild Gotland ponies (''Gotlandsrussen'') living there. These ponies are the only breed of ponies native to Sweden.

Etymology

The name comes from or , which means "flat land", "flat barren plain". However, it is uncertain which place it refers to.

History

Lojsta dates back to

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

times. It was originally part of the Fardhem

thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...

, which in turn was in the southernmost of the three original districts (similar to ridings) that Gotland was divided into during the Middle Ages. In 1862, it became an independent municipality. In 1952, it was incorporated into the

municipality and in 1971, all of Gotland became one

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

. The

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 ...

s from Lojsta under the

allotment system The allotment system (; ) was a system used in Sweden for keeping a trained army at all times. This system came into use in around 1640, and was replaced by the modern Swedish Armed Forces conscription system in 1901. Two different allotment sy ...

, were part of the Second Gotlandic Boatswains Company. There are several small grave fields from the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

in Lojsta as well as house foundations, collapsed stone walls and stones with

grooves Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station * ...

. Two

rune Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see '' futhark'' vs ''runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were primarily used to represent a sound value (a ...

inscriptions have been found by the church and one

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

silver treasure as well as a gold

bracteate A bracteate (from the Latin ''bractea'', a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age (including the Ven ...

have also been found within the socken. Although named after Lojsta, the defence-structure

Lojsta Castle Lojsta Castle (''Lojsta slott'') in Stånga socken on the border of Lojsta, Gotland, Sweden, is, despite its name, not a "castle" in the normal sense, i.e. it is not a palacelike manor. It is the ruins of a once fortified estate, consisting of h ...

and the Lojsta Hall, a reconstruction of an Iron Age

longhouse A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from lumber, timber and ...

, are situated in the neighboring

Stånga Stånga is a urban areas in Sweden, locality on the Swedish island of Gotland, with 491 inhabitants in 2014. Stånga is also the name of the larger populated area, socken (not to be confused with Parishes of the Church of Sweden, parish). It compr ...

socken.

References

External links

Objects from Lojsta at the Digital Museum
by

Nordic Museum The Nordic Museum () is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (in Swedish history, it is said to begin in 1520) to the ...

{{Authority control Populated places in Gotland County