The Överhogdal tapestries ( sv, Överhogdalstapeten) are a group of extraordinarily well-preserved textiles dating from late

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

or early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

that were discovered in the village of Överhogdal in

Härjedalen Härjedalen (; no, Herjådalen or ) is a historical Provinces of Sweden, province (''landskap'') in the centre of Sweden. It borders the Norway, Norwegian county of Trøndelag as well as the provinces of Dalarna, Hälsingland, Medelpad, and Jä ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Discovery and dating

The Överhogdal tapestries were found in the

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

of Överhogdal Church (''Överhogdals kyrka'') in the

Diocese of Härnösand The Diocese of Härnösand ( sv, Härnösands stift) is a division in the Church of Sweden in Västernorrland County. The Cathedral is located at Trädgårdsgatan in Härnösand. History The diocese was established in 1647. In 1904, the diocese o ...

by Jonas Holm (1895-1986) in 1909 during the renovation of the church. The tapestries were brought to

Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...

in 1910 by the artist Paul Jonze (1883-1973) and the County Governor's wife Ellen Widén, who was a dominant figure within the regional heritage movement at the time, took charge. The first thing she did was to give the dirty linen a good wash.

Radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...

tests conducted in 1991 indicated that the tapestries were made between 800 and 1100 AD during

Viking Era The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

. Newer tests in 2005 instead indicated a period between 1040 and 1170 AD.

Description and construction

The Överhogdal tapestries have been theorized as depicting imagery of both Norse and

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

origin. The contents of the pictures are much debated; some characters have a pagan content, featuring the detailed look of

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

's horse

Sleipnir In Norse mythology, Sleipnir (Old Norse: ; "slippy"Orchard (1997:151). or "the slipper"Kermode (1904:6).) is an eight-legged horse ridden by Odin. Sleipnir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional ...

, while other characters are clearly part of Christian imagery. The artwork depict stylized animals, dark blue and red horses, birds and people. There is also a ship, a tree and inscriptions. The four surviving sections of the tapestries have 323 figures of people and 146 and 3 partial animals, all generally moving to the left. The large animal and smaller human figures seem to rush by a tree, which could be the mighty ash

Yggdrasil Yggdrasil (from Old Norse ), in Norse cosmology, is an immense and central sacred tree. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds. Yggdrasil is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'' compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional s ...

, a massive tree central to

nine worlds Norse cosmology is the study of the cosmos (cosmology) as perceived by the ancient North Germanic peoples. The topic encompasses concepts from Norse mythology, such as notions of time and space, cosmogony, personifications, anthropogeny, and e ...

in Norse mythology. Some scholars have suggested that what is shown is the Christianization of the region

. However, today the dominant theory, given the radiocarbon dating of the tapestries, is that

Ragnarök In Norse mythology, (; non, Ragnarǫk) is a series of events, including a great battle, foretelling the death of numerous great figures (including the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), natural disasters, and the submers ...

, a series of events foretold to occur in

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

, is being depicted. Research has established that the figures are made of plant dyed wool, which is interwoven with the linen with a special technique. Today, these unique tapestries are on display in a specially designed room at

Jamtli Jamtli is the name of the regional open air museum of Jämtland and Härjedalen in Östersund, Sweden. It consists of an open-air museum with historical buildings, and an indoor museum with both permanent and temporary exhibitions. “Jamtli� ...

, the regional museum of

Jämtland Jämtland (; no, Jemtland or , ; Jamtish: ''Jamtlann''; la, Iemptia) is a historical province () in the centre of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders Härjedalen and Medelpad to the south, Ångermanland to the east, Lapland to the north a ...

and

References

External links

The Överhogdal Tapestries
at Jamtli

Discovery and dating

Description and construction

See also

References

External links

Related reading