Gamla Uppsala · Three Mounds

Gamla Uppsala has three great burial mounds. Legend makes them the graves of three gods of Norse myth — Odin, Thor and Freyr. An older account holds that this was the site of a pagan temple and a sacred grove, with offerings hung in the trees.

After Christianity arrived in the eleventh century the temple was pulled down and a church was built in its place; the mounds have stayed beside the church ever since.

The site is now a cemetery and a protected area. Ash and animal bones have in fact been found in the soil.

Historical Mysteries / Uppsala · Sweden / 6th century