Fårö () or in

Gutnish Gutnish ( ), or rarely Gutnic ( or ), is a North Germanic language spoken sporadically on the islands of Gotland and Fårö. The different dialects of Gutnish, while stemming from the Old Gutnish () variety of Old Norse, are sometimes considere ...

is a

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

island just north 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 ...

, itself off mainland

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

's southeastern coast. It is the second-largest island in the county and it is a popular summer resort. It has its own language, Faroymal, a dialect of

. Fårö is also the name of the populated area () consisting of both Fårö and

Gotska Sandön Gotska Sandön (literally translated as "The Gotlandic Sand Island") is an uninhabited Swedish island north of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. It has been a national park since 1909. Geography Sandön is situated north of Fårö in the Baltic Se ...

islands. It comprises the same area as the administrative Fårö District, established on 1January 2016.

Geography

The island is separated from Gotland by the narrow Fårö-strait, and connected by two car ferries, operated by the

Swedish Transport Administration The Swedish Transport Administration () is a government agency in Sweden, controlled by the Riksdag and the Government of Sweden. It is responsible for long-term infrastructure planning for transport: road, rail, shipping and aviation. It owns, c ...

. It has a total area of , of which are water areas or

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

s. On the islands of Fårö and Gotland are rock formations called rauk. They are a result of erosion during the

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 ...

and are unique to Gotland and Fårö. The medieval Fårö Church is on Fårö. , Fårö Church along with Gotska Sandön Chapel on

belongs to Fårö

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 Norra Gotlands pastorat. 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

Asteroid 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 ...

, 9358 Fårö, is named after the island.

Etymology

The name ''Fårö'' (in

) is derived from the words , meaning island, and probably , which is a

word stem In linguistics, a word stem is a word part responsible for a word's lexical meaning. The term is used with slightly different meanings depending on the morphology of the language in question. For instance, in Athabaskan linguistics, a verb stem ...

associated with travel like in the Swedish verb ('to travel'). The word ''Fårö'' likely means 'the island one has to travel to' or 'the traveler's island'. Mainland Swedes might misinterpret the name Fårö to be derived from , the (standard) Swedish word for

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

, due to the many sheep on the island. That word is absent from Modern Gutnish, which uses the word (which in Swedish means 'lamb').

Demographics

Military past

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

spent two days in 1741 in Fårö during the expedition in which he surveyed the strategic and military resources of Gotland. Until the 1990s, Fårö and the North of Gotland were off-limits to foreigners because of a government military installation there. There were large, multilingual signs at the side of the roads informing visitors of this and the prohibition was strictly enforced. After the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

ended, the installation (

Swedish Coastal Artillery The Swedish Coastal Artillery () has its origin in the Archipelago Artillery that was raised in 1866. The Coastal Artillery was formed from the Archipelago Artillery, the Marine Regiment and parts of the Artillery in 1902. Kustartilleriet, abbr ...

regiment KA 3) was mostly shut down. A relic of the island's military past is a tall radio mast at Holmudden at .

Cinematic heritage

Swedish filmmaker

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

lived and died on Fårö and several of his films were filmed there, among them '' Through a Glass Darkly'' (1961), ''

Persona A persona (plural personae or personas) is a strategic mask of identity in public, the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. It is also considered "an intermediary ...

'' (1966), '' Hour of the Wolf'' (1968), ''

Shame Shame is an unpleasant self-conscious emotion often associated with negative self-evaluation; motivation to quit; and feelings of pain, exposure, distrust, powerlessness, and worthlessness. Definition Shame is a discrete, basic emotion, d ...

'' (1968), '' The Passion of Anna'' (1969), and '' Scenes from a Marriage'' (1973), as well as

Liv Ullmann Liv Johanne Ullmann (born 16 December 1938) is a Norwegian actress and filmmaker. Recognised as one of the greatest European actresses of all time, Ullmann is known as the muse and frequent collaborator of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, whom she date ...

’s ''

Faithless Faithless are an English dance music Band (rock and pop), band that formed in 1995, with its core original members being Rollo Armstrong, Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. During the band's initial period of success, Sister Bliss and Maxi Ja ...

'' (2000), based on a Bergman screenplay. The Bergman Week is a tribute to the filmmaker held on the island every June. Fårö itself is the subject of Bergman's documentary films '' Fårö Document'' (1970) and ''Fårö Document 1979''.

Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (, ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Russian origin. He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. Works by Andrei Tarkovsky, His films e ...

wanted to film '' The Sacrifice'' on Fårö but was denied access by the military, so it was filmed further south on

at När instead.

Mia Hansen-Løve Mia Hansen-Løve (born 5 February 1981) is a French film director, screenwriter, and former actress. She has won several accolades for her work. Her first feature film, '' All Is Forgiven'', won the Louis Delluc Prize for Best First Film in 2007 ...

filmed and set her film '' Bergman Island'' (2021) on Fårö.

Tourism

An annual event on Fårö is "Fårönatta" (Fårö Night), held in September, during which restaurants and bars stay open all night, craft stands are set up and the church holds a midnight Mass.

Landowners

Several families on Fårö, often originating from larger cities such as Gothenburg and Stockholm, are locally referred to as the Fårö frälse. These families own significant amounts of property on the island, typically in the form of small hamlets used as private retreats. The land was originally owned by the local government and was sold to Swedish citizens—often those with military service or a clean legal record—after it was deemed surplus to military requirements. Notable families include: The Wållberg family The Elfving family

Places of interest

Digerhuvud

The Digerhuvud coast with Bjärge

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

is the largest

stack Stack may refer to: Places * Stack Island, an island game reserve in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia, in Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group * Blue Stack Mountains, in Co. Donegal, Ireland People * Stack (surname) (including a list of people ...

area in Sweden, with hundreds of stacks along a part of the coast. Close by is the Helgumannen fishing village. The coast is not suited for swimming due to its depth (up to close to the shore), and its strong currents. An

in the

, 10102 Digerhuvud, is named after the area.

Fårö Lighthouse

The '' Fårö Lighthouse'' lies on the island's northeastern point. It is high and was built between 1846 and 1847.

Langhammars

The Langhammars peninsula and the Langhammars nature reserve on north-western Fårö are rocky beaches with

stone monoliths known as rauks. Langhammars was the setting for

's film ''

''.

Sudersand

The long, sandy Sudersand beach on north-eastern Fårö lies next to Sudersands Semesterby which rents cabins to tourists.

References

External links

Objects from Fårö 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 ...

Gotland Tourist Association — Fårö
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faro Gotland Swedish islands in the Baltic Islands of Gotland County Military history of Sweden Cultural heritage of Sweden