Roma (), also by proxy referred to as Romakloster, is a locality 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 province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to th ...

, with 936 inhabitants in 2014. Roma is also the name of the larger populated area, '' socken'' (not to be confused with

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

). It comprises the same area as the administrative Roma District, established on 1January 2016.

Roma Abbey Roma Abbey ( sv, Roma kloster) is a ruined Cistercian abbey and a crown estate in Roma on the Swedish island of Gotland. The abbey was built in the 12th century. After the Reformation, its lands were confiscated by the Crown and subsequently tur ...

, a ruined medieval monastery and crown estate manor, lies in Roma.

Geography

Roma is the name of the main locality in the ''socken''. It is also the name of the ''socken'' as well as the district. Roma is situated in the central part of Gotland. The

medieval 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 ...

Roma Church, is situated in the smaller locality Lövsta, sometimes referred to as ''Roma kyrkby'', in Roma socken. , Roma Church belongs to Roma

in Romaklosters pastorat.

History

In 1995 the locality known as Roma was divided by

Statistics Sweden Statistics Sweden ( sv, Statistiska centralbyrån ; SCB) is the Swedish government agency operating under the Ministry of Finance and responsible for producing official statistics for decision-making, debate and research. The agency's responsibi ...

into a part with the tentative name of " Roma kyrkby" or "Lövsta" (pop. 277) and the remaining part that retained the name "Roma" (pop. 913), but is using "Romakloster" as the postal address. Some confusion is caused by the fact that Lövsta/Roma kyrkby has been referred to as "Roma" in the statistical figures since 2000.

Railways

Roma got a railway connection to Visby in 1878 and was from 1902 the island's main railway hub as a junction for its two main railways Both lines used the Swedish three-foot narrow gauge (891 mm). The railways were closed in 1953 and 1960 respectively. In 2015, however, the heritage railway Gotlands Hesselby Jernväg was extended to Roma, which thus regained access to rail traffic. The railway is maintained by the Gotland Train Association.

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