Helgö

Location of Helgö in Lake Mälaren

Helgö is an island in Ekerö Municipality in Stockholm County, Sweden. It is situated in the lake Mälaren. The island's greatest width is about Template:Convert, it is about Template:Convert long and covers Template:Convert.

Excavations at HelgöEdit

File:Helgö Buddha 18194.jpg

The Helgö Buddha

The island is perhaps best known for a major archaeological area. The old trading town on Helgö began to emerge around the year 200 AD, 500 years before Birka at Björkö. The first archaeological dig in 1954 uncovered the remains of the early settlement, including a workshop area which attracted international interest. The most notable finds included a small Buddha statuette from North India and a christening scoop from Egypt, both dating from the 6th century. The Indian Buddha statuette, the Irish crozier<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and the Egyptian Coptic scoop which were found on Helgö, are presently on display in the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm.<ref>Viking with a Buddha (A Dozen articles on Asian Arts)</ref><ref>The Buddha in Viking Sweden (Beachcombing)</ref>

Kaggeholm CastleEdit

File:Lars Kagg, 1623.jpg

Lars Kagg (1595-1661)

The site where Kaggeholm Castle (Kaggeholms slott) is located was first mentioned in a land title document in 1287. During the 1500s the farm was owned by members of the families Grip and Bååt.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1647, Count Lars Kagg (1595–1661) acquired an estate which he named Kaggeholm. Kagg was a political ally of King Gustavus Adolphus, a member of the Privy Council of Sweden and Field Marshal during the Thirty Years' War.<ref>Matrikel öfwer Swea rikes ridderskap och adel</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The château-style manor house was built in 1725 after drawings and designs by Baroque architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger (1654–1728).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

From 1939, it was owned by the Swedish Pentecostal movement. It has been used as a training center by nearby Kaggeholm College (Kaggeholms folkhögskola).<ref>Kaggeholms slott (Kaggeholms folkhögskola) Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Today Kaggeholm is operated as a conference center managed by the Swedish property development company Sisyfosgruppen Holding.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Royal Swedish Academy volumesEdit

The findings from the excavations at Helgö have been reported in a series of volumes published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, beginning with Volume 1 covering the period 1954–1956. Volume 18, the final volume in the series, was published in 2011.<ref>Excavations at Helgö XVIII: Conclusions and New Aspects, Royal Swedish Academy.</ref>