Tapestries by Överhogdal
The five tapestries from Överhogdal ( Swedish : Överhogdalstapeten , Överhogdalsbonaderna or Överhogdalsvävarna ) were found in 1909 during the renovation of the Överhogdal church in Jämtland , Sweden . They were created after C14 measurements between 1040 and 1170 AD, shortly after the end of the Viking Age (800-1050 AD)
description
The tapestries in the Jämtli Museum in Östersund are the only remaining tapestries in Scandinavia from this period. Their woven-in symbols come from Norse mythology and Christian tradition. The tapestries are considered a series even if one carpet was woven twice while four were woven using the sumak technique on a linen ground .
The illustrations are historically interesting, but the Swedish scientists disagree about them. The main problem is with the relationship between mythological and Christian symbols. A common explanation of the picture content is that the series shows the Ragnarök , i.e. the end of the world, from which the new religion emerges. The only thing that is certain is that the tapestries were made at the time of the upheaval and everything else is interpreted from the images. One of the questions is why the world tree Yggdrasil is at the center of several carpets and what significance the two red birds on the top of the tree have, because the traditions of the Nordic sagas do not provide any information about this either. Below a building is the word kuthby or Gudby (dwelling of the gods) written in runes backwards .
The Överhogdal tapestries are the only document of the transition from the Nordic faith to Christianity that documents the section from the Swedish side and is not based on statements made by Adam von Bremen or others.
Tapestry by Skog
A counterpart is the tapestry by Skog (Swedish: Skogbonaden ) found in 1912 in the municipality of Söderhamn . The content of the picture is interpreted as a dispute between pagan and Christianity. The tapestry from the church of Skog (in Hälsingland ) was made in the middle of the 12th century. The tapestry, discovered in 1912, has been in the Statens historiska museum in Stockholm since 1914 . The tapestry shows a stave church with the congregation in the middle. There are two dragon heads on the roof of the church. Bell towers are in and next to the church. Lions approach from the left, while horses and soldiers approach from the right. Traditionally this has been seen as an attack on the church. On the left side there are three large figures that are mostly taken for Scandinavian kings (Olaf, Knud and Erik), but can also be Odin , Thor and Freyr .
literature
- Ruth Horneij: Bonaderna från Överhogdal Östersund Jämtlands läns museum 1991. ISBN 91-7948-069-1 .
- Anne-Marie Franzén, Margareta Nockert: Bonaderna från Skog och Överhogdal och andra medeltida väggbeklädnader. Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm 1992, ISBN 91-7402-226-1 .
