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The Lapland World Heritage Sites Are Gems of Nature

UNESCO has valued both nature and culture in the area, and has taken Laponia into the list of sites.

Here you can wander for days withou meeting a fellow human being. Reindeer will be your companion when you cross the grazing lands.

Read also our article about Laponia to learn more.

(Photo: UNESCO)

The Rock Art at Alta

The Rock Art at Alta, the City of Aurora Borealis, was taken into the list in 1985. This is the largest known collection of rock carvings in Northern Europe made by hunter-gatherers. The first carvings were discovered in 1973, and they are between 6200 and 2000 years old.

The rock carvings at Alta are unique because they represent many different figures. There are four uncovered fields with thousands of figures. The most common figures are of animals like reindeer and moose. But there are other animals as well.

Read more about the rock art at Alta.

The Struve Geodetic Arc

This site is a chain of survey points from Hammerfest in Norwegian Lapland to the Black Sea. The Arc goes through 10 countries. This work was done between 1816 and 1855 by the astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve.

This work helped in deciding the exact size and shape of planet Earth. It is an extraordinary example of scientific collaboration among scientists and monarchs from different countries.

In Norwegian Lapland there are four points, in Finnish Lapland four points and four also in Swedish Lapland.

Read more about the Struve Geodetic Arc

Gammelstad Church Town

This site isn't really in Lapland. But since the Swedes have decided to include also the Luleå area in the Lapland term, we'll give it to you here. And it is well worth a visit.

Gammelstad is the best preserved example of a 'church village'. There are hundreds of wooden houses round an old stone church.

The houses were used mostly in connection with church activities.

Gammelstad Church Town was included in UNESCO´s World Heritage List in 1996.

Read more about the Gammelstad church town.

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Resources

Find out more about the UNESCO World Heritage here.

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