Among the limestone banks that characterise the area there are two low outcrops placed side by side with a slightly sloping rock face, in which a Necropolis (the Sardinian Domus de Janas) was carved. One outcrop houses the Tombs I-II, while the other houses the Tombs III-IX. Depending on the morphology, the entrances are preceded by short dromoi, that is corridors dug into the rock, sometimes leading to a pavilion (Tombs II, VIII, IX), where the access door opens. The tombs are all multicellular, mainly characterised by a “T-shaped” plan; some asymmetries suggest that expansion works have been carried out.
Among the nine tombs, the Tomb VIII stands out for the refinement of the decoration effects. It can be accessed from a raised dromos that leads to a quadrangular vestibule, without ceiling, that shows now only traces of cornices and pilasters. The antechamber has a tabular ceiling with the representation of a wooden roof; the back wall is characterised by a door framed on either side by lowered mirrors and cornices on the model of the wooden structures of domestic architecture which is symbolically imitated in the style of funerary architecture. The walls still preserve dual horn-shaped engravings, of the “boat-shaped” type. In the larger chamber there is a gable roof characterised by a central beam and seven joists per side; in the walls it is possible to see the wainscot at the base and pilasters reproducing the stakes of the supporting wooden structure of the huts. At both sides of the entrance it is possible to see “band” curved horns and the same pattern is repeated along the back wall, which is carved with a fake door, a kind of porta inferi (the door to the underworld). The remaining chambers do not show any decoration. In the adjoining Tomb IX, on the wall of the dromos, it is possible to see two juxtaposed hemispherical cupels.Outside the Tomb VII, there are two menhirs and a flat slab, probably symbols of the funeral area that included the Tombs VIII-IX.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.