Släbro Rock Carvings, Nyköping, Sweden

Släbro is without question one of Sweden’s greatest and most remarkable rock carvings site. Situated near the River of Nyköping the carvings were discovered 1984 and can be dated back to the Bronze Age. They are unique because they are carved in a most unusual way. There are etchings on some ten different surfaces with a total of some 700 figures, mainly frame and circle figures. Many are unique in design, in particular the large stylised human figures in a position of adoration. The characteristics commonly found throughout carvings in the South of Sweden are missing. What is more, the Släbro carvings seem to bear no similarity to any other ancient carvings that have been discovered throughout Europe. The carvings date from 1800 – 400 BC and thus far the meaning behind them remains something of a mystery as it has proven to be extremely difficult to interpret the motif as it appears in literally hundreds of different ways.

References:

Lomography

User Reviews

Lina Lagnesten Cederin (3 years ago)
Stillsam plats

Simon Bergmark (3 years ago)
Ganska medioker plats. Kom hit med förväntningar om en forntida kvarlämning utan motstycke. Visade sig vara berg med klotter på. Hunden hade dock rätt kul. Stora ytor. Skulle nog inte rekommendera att ta sig tiden att besöka denna plats, men råkar du vandra förbi kan det vara kul att slå sig en titt. I några sekunder.

Thommy Andersson (3 years ago)
Klipper gräsmattan där kan tänka hur de var på den tiden dom rista in på berget

Claire Panman - van der Meer (3 years ago)
Beautiful ancient artwork, but in two of the three places we found it very hard to see the drawings. Still absolutely worth the visit.

Confiteor Mea Culpa (3 years ago)
Norr om Nyköping finns det gott om runstenar och hällristningar. Släbro var en mötesplats för redan 2000 år sedan. Hällristningarna i Släbro upptäcktes så sent som 1984, och de är unika eftersom att man ingen annan stans i världen har funnit samma tecken och bilder som de här. De lärda lär tvista om innebörden. Det lär finnas minst 400 hällristningar inknackade i berget alldeles intill Nyköpings å. Det sägs att det unika med Släbroristningen är den enhetliga och ovanliga stil rustningarna knackats in i. Släbro Hällristningar är väl värt ett besök och en kaffekorg rekommenderas att ta med sig

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Varvara_R

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Trinity Sergius Lavra

The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius is a world famous spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church and a popular site of pilgrimage and tourism. It is the most important working Russian monastery and a residence of the Patriarch. This religious and military complex represents an epitome of the growth of Russian architecture and contains some of that architecture’s finest expressions. It exerted a profound influence on architecture in Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe.

The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, was founded in 1337 by the monk Sergius of Radonezh. Sergius achieved great prestige as the spiritual adviser of Dmitri Donskoi, Great Prince of Moscow, who received his blessing to the battle of Kulikov of 1380. The monastery started as a little wooden church on Makovets Hill, and then developed and grew stronger through the ages.

Over the centuries a unique ensemble of more than 50 buildings and constructions of different dates were established. The whole complex was erected according to the architectural concept of the main church, the Trinity Cathedral (1422), where the relics of St. Sergius may be seen.

In 1476 Pskovian masters built a brick belfry east of the cathedral dedicated to the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. The church combines unique features of early Muscovite and Pskovian architecture. A remarkable feature of this church is a bell tower under its dome without internal interconnection between the belfry and the cathedral itself.

The Cathedral of the Assumption, echoing the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Moscow Kremlin, was erected between 1559 and 1585. The frescoes of the Assumption Cathedral were painted in 1684. At the north-western corner of the Cathedral, on the site of the western porch, in 1780 a vault containing burials of Tsar Boris Godunov and his family was built.

In the 16th century the monastery was surrounded by 6 meters high and 3,5 meters thick defensive walls, which proved their worth during the 16-month siege by Polish-Lithuanian invaders during the Time of Trouble. They were later strengthened and expanded.

After the Upheaval of the 17th century a large-scale building programme was launched. At this time new buildings were erected in the north-western part of the monastery, including infirmaries topped with a tented church dedicated to Saints Zosima and Sawatiy of Solovki (1635-1637). Few such churches are still preserved, so this tented church with a unique tiled roof is an important contribution to the Lavra.

In the late 17th century a number of new buildings in Naryshkin (Moscow) Baroque style were added to the monastery.

Following a devastating fire in 1746, when most of the wooden buildings and structures were destroyed, a major reconstruction campaign was launched, during which the appearance of many of the buildings was changed to a more monumental style. At this time one of the tallest Russian belfries (88 meters high) was built.

In the late 18th century, when many church lands were secularized, the chaotic planning of the settlements and suburbs around the monastery was replaced by a regular layout of the streets and quarters. The town of Sergiev Posad was surrounded by traditional ramparts and walls. In the vicinity of the monastery a number of buildings belonging to it were erected: a stable yard, hotels, a hospice, a poorhouse, as well as guest and merchant houses. Major highways leading to the monastery were straightened and marked by establishing entry squares, the overall urban development being oriented towards the centrepiece - the Ensemble of the Trinity Sergius Lavra.

In 1993, the Trinity Lavra was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

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