I visited this WHS in June 2018. It was a very convenient stop-over before heading further north to the Swedish Lappland. Since I was flying back to Stockholm from nearby Lulea, I decided to revisit on my way back (especially for an extra serving of Tosca Fika from Ullas cafe - thanks Els for the recommendation!).

Church towns are essentially a northern feature in Sweden. They were created due to special conditions in this part of the country. There were no sustainable reasons for bigger towns to be built until the latter part of the 17th century. Of Sweden's 71 original church towns, only 16 are left today, the majority of which have been reduced to a remnant. Gammelstad is Sweden's largest (even though still very small; it can be covered in a couple of hours) and best preserved church town with 408 cottages which have never been struck by a major fire. 

The central influence of the Church was used in economic and in political life with establishments that usually belonged to the town. The church itself, surrounded by the church town and the public buildings, is also inscribed. The Nederlulea (Lower Lulea) church is the largest medieval church in Norrland. It has some late-medieval frescoes, an altar screen which was built in Antwerp, and a very ornate pulpit inside.

People converged at Gammelstad to attend High Mass and hours of devotion, to attend markets, court sessions and parish meetings, but also to meet friends and acquaintances from other villages. Church weekends gradually became divided into youth weekends and weekends for older people. The church town tradition of spending the night in church cottages in connection with church weekends was a decisive factor for conferring world heritage status as this custom lives on till today. Three to four times a year, youths are invited to a church weekend and during the traditional confirmation classes before the midsummer celebration, they stay in the church cottages and still today some of these 'acquaintances' lead to marraige.

In the past, there was a cute tradition of "nocturnal courting sessions". This reminded me of Coimbra's fado in Portugal. Apparently, the boys in town courted the girls through the windows. They used to knock and say something which had to rhyme along these lines: "You're my friend, so I've been told. So let me in, out here's so cold. Let me in, you must believe. Have a heart, lend me your sleeve". Then the girl decided if the boy was allowed to come in for the night and lie next to her.

The cottage in 253, Framlanningsvagen, is open to visitors in the summer months and gives you an idea of the cottages' interior. By the door, look out for the UNESCO WH inscription certificate. The upper floor of the small visitor centre is also worth visiting. In front of the visitor centre there's the UNESCO WH plaque. The best time to visit for photography is in the afternoon. All in all, I really enjoyed my time here even though it isn't one of the best WHS on the list.