Bridge to the Sunship and Wallanders Ystad Viking Runestones

WE travel across the iconic Øresund Bridge, which when built, was the longest bridge in the world for road and rail. As we travel across, we get a fantastic view of the Øresund and the Danish and Swedish Coasts.

On the way to Anderslöv, we travel through the beautiful Swedish countryside and tiny little villages, where only around 50 people live. The road we travel along is known as the Counts Road, as many members of the Swedish aristocracy owned land in this area.

Historic area with Runestones and a Medieval bridge, where people still celebrate New Years Eve.
Nearby is the old Väpmannahög, which gave its name to Vemmenhög.

Skivarp is an urban area with 1,250 inhabitants in Skurup Municipality, Skåne Län, Sweden. Skivarp's church is from the 12th century.

Here is the famous combined rune and picture stone, the Tullstorp stone. It stands at the far back of the cemetery by a small hill. About 960 - 980.
The images show a ship of the Eastern Roman type and "The great beast" perhaps a wolf. A small leaflet about the Tullstorp stone can be found in the church, which replaced the old medieval church in the 19th century

A lovely church in a very special place. High up and in the middle of the village. Unfortunately not open for visits Cultural heritage in all its glory.

Sjörup's old church was rebuilt sometime between 1150 and 1170, under the leadership of Carl Stenmästare. Previously there was a wooden church on the same site, a so-called stave church. This was a common church type during the early Christian period in what was then Denmark. Byggmästare Carl Stenmästare had participated in the construction of Lund's cathedral, which was completed in 1145.

We pass a ruined church that was last used in the early 1900s. Behind it is a large farm, with beautiful fields.

Ystad is a town on the south coast of Scania with 18,350 inhabitants and the seat of the municipality of Ystad in Skåne län, Sweden. In the city center there are many medieval buildings, and Ystad, with its around 300 half-timbered houses, is Scania's best-preserved medieval town

Kåseberga is an old fishing village in Ystads municipality in Skåne county. The distinctive ridge Kåse Head rises almost 30 meters above the sea and above the city. A few hundred meters to the northwest lies Ale's stone

Magnificent view of the Baltic Sea
On a high hill with a magnificent view of the Baltic Sea and Bornholm, the stone set Ales stenar rises. The 59 stones stand in a formation like a ship with a length of 67 meters and a width of up to 19 meters. From the small fishing village of Kåseberga, a path leads up to Ales stoner.

Ship setting or solar calendar?
There are two completely different perceptions of what function Ale's stones have had and when the facility was built. Archaeologists from the state Riksantikvarieämbetet have long claimed that Ales stenar is a shipwreck from the Late Bronze Age (1000 - 500 BCE) or Late Iron Age (500 - 1000 CE) and that the site probably served as a burial ground.

On the other hand, a group of people outside the established scientific community maintain that Ale's stone is a large solar calendar and sundial dating back to the Bronze Age. Coincidentally or not, Ale's stone is oriented so that the "bow of the ship" points exactly towards the sunset at the summer solstice (longest day of the year) in June, and the "stern" points towards the sunrise at the winter solstice (shortest day of the year) in December.

Stones point to sunrises and sunsets
The individual stones also point exactly towards the rising and setting of the sun in an interval of 30 days, seen from the center of the stone setting. The Viking calendar began at the winter solstice around 23/12 and consisted of 360 days divided into 12 months of 30 days each. A calendar which, according to the people behind the solar calendar theory, must date back to the Bronze Age, when the stone set was erected. For the sunrise on 23/1, 22/2, 24/3, etc., occurs exactly in front of a stone, seen from the center of the stone setting, well about the mark when you correct for the displacement of the sun's path since the Bronze Age and the 1.5 meters of sand that have been deposited on the stone setting, which is why the people of the time saw the stones from a slightly lower perspective. The entire plant is set up according to the solar path for 11 months of 30 days each and one month of 35 days

It was built of limestone in the middle of the 12th century. It is the only known fortified round church in Scania. Master mason of the church, Carl stenmästare, also built churches on Bornholm, where round churches were common. The baptismal font was cut by the Romanesque artist known today as Majestatis and shows one of the legends about Saint Peter and Paul of Tarsus. The pulpit was made in 1619. The altar cabinet dates to the beginning of the 16th century.

In 1791, the round church was considerably altered when extensions were made to the north, west and south. These extensions were demolished in 1908–1910 when the round church was restored and a large cathedral-like extension was made to the west, including a new tower.

We make our way back to Denmark, after our beautiful view over the Baltic at Kåsaberga. This is the countryside that inspired Henning Mankell to write the Wallander detective stories.

We cross back to Denmark, over the Øresund via the Øresund Bridge.