Torsburgen

Gotland · Sverige · Fortress

The place is called Thor's fort — and the Gutasaga says every third Gotlander fled here, drawn by lot to leave the island forever. The wall remains. The people did not.

Torsburgen means Thor's fort, and it is the thunder god's name that lies over northern Europe's largest hillfort: a limestone plateau on thirty-metre cliffs in Kräklingbo, sealed off by a wall more than two kilometres long begun in the third century AD. The Gutasaga tells that the island once grew so overcrowded that lots were cast, and every third Gotlander was forced to leave. Those chosen took refuge here, up on Torsburgen, before sailing away over the sea, never to return. The place has burned again and again — Linnaeus in 1741 saw a bare plateau stripped by fire, and in 1992 a forest fire swept over ten square kilometres here. What is left is the black cracked rock, the wall, and a silence that feels a little too complete.

FAQ

Hvor ligger Torsburgen?

Torsburgen ligger i Gotland, Sverige.