Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: Östergötlands län

During our visit in Sweden we were pleasantly surprised by the variety of wild flowers all over the country. These are poppies nearby Alvastra kloster - www.ipernity.com/doc/294067/40917200 - in Östergötland County.

Runestones are mostly raised stones with a runic inscription. These stones are often memorials to dead men and were usually brightly coloured when erected, though this is no longer evident as the colour has worn off. This tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century. Most of them date from the late Viking Age and are located in Scandinavia (the majority however is found in Sweden, estimated around 2.000 of these stones). The Rökstenen (Runestone in Rök) is the most famous runestone of Sweden. It features the longest known runic inscription of the world in stone with 760 characters. The text is considered to be one of the earliest examples of writing in the Old Swedish language and it marks the beginning of the history of Swedish literature. The stone is almost four metres tall and was carved and erected most probably in the early 9th century, judging from the main runic alphabet used and the form of the language. Rökstenen is covered with runes on five sides; a few parts of the inscription are damaged, but most of it is readable. In the 11th century the stone was used for the building of a church in Rök. Rökstenen was discovered in the late 19th century in the wall of the church and then was placed on the graveyard. In 1933 it became a shed, protecting the stone for decay. There is also an information centre next to the stone.

Alvastra Abbey was founded by Cistercian monks from Clairvaux in France in the year of 1143 after a donation of land from King Sverker I of Sweden. It was the first Cistercian settlement in Sweden. The monastery is one of the oldest and was the largest of the country. Alvastra Abbey flourished for nearly 400 years, but after the Swedish Lutheran reformation in the 1530s, the monastery was demolished, never to be rebuilt. Construction materials - limestone from the nearby Omberg - were used among other things for building Vadstena Castle. The ruins have been restored and preserved in several phases. Nowadays it is one of the most important cultural sights in the province of Östergötland and open for visitors.

Vadstena Slott (Vadstena Castle) is a former royal castle, originally built by King Gustav I in 1545 as a fortress to protect Stockholm from possible attacks by the Danes and the Smålanders. The fortress consisted of three smaller stone buildings facing Lake Vättern, three 31-meter wide ramparts, a courtyard, a moat and four circular cannon turrets. However, the plans changed and in the 1550s the reconstruction from fortress into a habitable castle began and the buildings were turned into a Renaissance palace for Duke Magnus, the King’s son. It was not fully completed until 1620. It is still one of Sweden’s best examples of Renaissance architecture. Vadstena Castle was a royal palace until 1716, when the royal family lost interest in it; after which it became a storage barn for grain. The original ramparts were torn down in the 19th century and the present impressive ramparts were inaugurated in 1999 Since 1899, the castle has housed the Provincial Archives and nowadays it houses also the International Vadstena Academy, an opera house and the Castle Museum

The ‘Göta kanal’ is a canal in Götaland with a length of 190 kilometers. At its highest point the canal is 91.8 meters above sea level and has 58 locks. Nearby the village of Berg the canal has one flight of seven locks and another two double locks, raising and lowering boats more than 29 meters. The seven connected locks (main picture) are the longest flight of locks on the Göta Canal. They raise or lower boats almost 19 meters between Lake Roxen and harbour at Berg. The locks were built between 1815-1818 and officially named ‘Carl Johans slussar’ (after the Swedish King Karl XIV Johan).

Picture: Göta Canal between Borensberg and Vandrarhem Glasbruket after a rainy day. The ‘Göta kanal’ is a canal in Götaland with a length of 190.5 kilometers. It runs between Mem on the Baltic Sea and Sjötorp on the eastern shore of Lake Vänern. Together with the river ‘Gota älv’ and ‘Trollhätte kanal’ it connects Stockholm with Göteborg. . The canal - built between 1810 and 1832 - was an important link in the transportation of wood and iron. The promoter and building contractor was the Swedish admiral Baltzar von Platen. 87 kilometers of the canal was excavated manually by 58.000 soldiers. ‘Göta Kanal’ has a width which varies from 7 to 14 meters and a maximum depth of about 3 meters. At its highest point the canal is 91.8 meters above sea level and has 58 locks (PiP 1, one of the locks) along the way. Nowadays the waterway is only used by pleasure boats (Pip 2) and vintage canal boats like M/S Juno (PiP 3), launched in 1874 and specially designed to sail in the ‘Göta Kanal’. It is the world’s oldest registered ship with overnight accommodation.