In Havdhem, a church with medieval building phases and an 18th-century vicarage are among the village’s distinctive features; Kistänge Nature Reserve lies east of the village. These three subjects offer different perspectives on architectural history and landscape.

Church, tympanum and cultural landscape

The choir, dating from the late 12th century, is the oldest part of Havdhem Church. Around 1200, the nave and an apse attached to the east side of the choir were added. The church therefore combines an earlier choir phase with an expansion around 1200. A Romanesque sandstone tympanum relief depicts Christ and four apostles. Tympanum refers to the architectural field filled by a relief: the term describes the form, while the figures convey the subject.

The cultural landscape around the church and its churchyard is of national heritage conservation interest. This designation explicitly includes not only the church building but also its landscape setting and the churchyard.

The vicarage as a later architectural feature

The well-preserved 18th-century vicarage and its outbuildings stand directly beside the church. Its two-storey main building was constructed from limestone and sandstone in 1763. It is considered a large-scale example of mid-18th-century architecture on Gotland. Their immediate proximity makes the difference in age tangible: the church choir dates from the Middle Ages, while the vicarage’s main building dates from the mid-18th century. This makes it possible to compare two widely separated periods of construction in neighbouring buildings.

Kistänge: landscape and early summer blooms

Kistänge Nature Reserve lies just over a kilometre east of the village of Havdhem. Its 4.3 hectares are a remnant of a once much larger wet meadow area; today, the site is isolated and surrounded by farmland. The present-day area and its former extent illustrate two different scales of the same landscape. A visit is especially worthwhile in early summer, when the blooms are at their most abundant. The focus of a visit depends on the season: Kistänge is of interest for its flowers, while the church and vicarage represent two widely separated periods of construction. The church and vicarage are right next to each other; Kistänge, by contrast, lies east of the village of Havdhem.

Culture and history in Havdhem

Gotlands Lantbruksmuseum is a cultural centre in Havdhem in the south of Gotland. Another chapter in the area’s history is Lagerlingen: in the 1940s, it was an internment camp for German political prisoners on the site of Havdhem’s present-day sports ground. The camp closed in October 1945, after which the prisoners were transferred to mainland Sweden. The camp’s function, location and closure are thus clearly placed in their historical context.

Discover more destinations: Ljugarn, Fårösund, Katthammarsvik, Lau, Hejde, Fleringe, Hejdeby, Klintehamn

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