Kalmar's Medieval Square – Introduction

You are in the middle of medieval Kalmar, one of Sweden's oldest and yet most unexplored and consequently most exciting cities. The reason is that it literally disappeared in the mid-17th century, when all the medieval buildings were demolished and rebuilt on Kvarnholmen, where Kalmar's center is located today. But walls, cellars, and remnants of streets still lie beneath the ground, buried but preserved.

Kalmar was founded, by all accounts, in the mid-12th century. The first urban settlement was located on Slottsholmen, the small island a few hundred meters away. We do not know who founded the city, but judging by the finds, North German merchants were involved.

A strong defensive tower was also built on the islet. When Kalmar was incorporated into the Swedish kingdom, in the 13th century this became the starting point for a formidable castle construction. The rest of the settlement was moved to the mainland, where you are now standing. In a short time, this became one of Sweden's largest and richest metropolises, the kingdom's gateway to the south, with churches, monasteries, stepped gable townhouses, bathhouses, guilds, trades, a harbor, and city walls.

No place in Sweden hosted as many international top meetings or had to endure as many sieges. It is no coincidence that the late medieval union between Sweden, Denmark, and Norway was called the Kalmar Union: It was created here and maintained here by the gentlemen from all three kingdoms continuously meeting in Kalmar to make plans for the future.

But now let us step into the medieval heart of Kalmar. Before you lies what was once Kalmar's square, and behind it the place where one of the largest churches in the Nordic countries once rose above the buildings.

Kalmar's medieval square - In-depth

Kalmar's medieval square has indeed disappeared, but we recognize it in several ways. It is mentioned in writing during the late Middle Ages. It was drawn on a city map in 1610. It has been the subject of quite a few excavations, especially during the last decade. The houses at the square are often mentioned in Kalmar's account book from the 15th and 16th centuries.

The square was four-sided and covered an area of about 1,200 square meters, slightly larger than the inner courtyard of Kalmar Castle. When archaeologists analyzed the area in 2016, they could determine that the square had been covered with heavy paving stones that had been placed directly on the ground surface without bedding sand.

From the writings of the 15th century, it appears that the square was lined with a town hall, several townhouses, that is, residential buildings with outbuildings, as well as thirteen stalls – smaller buildings that could be rented out. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Kalmar was an attractive city to live in, which partly increased the number of stalls and partly led to the genuinely wealthy building increasingly grand residences. Thus, Kalmar differed markedly from most Swedish cities, which were dominated by low wooden houses. Anyone coming to the square in Kalmar saw something completely different.

As an example of a town residence by the square, a magnificent house in the north, not far from the church, can be mentioned. It measured fourteen meters in the north-south direction and between seven and eight in the east-west, had several floors, and no fewer than three cellars. The gable of the house faced the square, the long side toward the churchyard. North of the building, there was a paved courtyard, a smaller outbuilding, and baker's ovens. At the beginning of the 15th century, the house was inhabited by Mayor Henrik Lassan, later by the goldsmith Bertel Sorow. Thereafter, the house was owned by the high nobility family Trolle. Birger Trolle was the captain at Kalmar Castle in the 1440s and considered himself in need of a stately residence by the square. His son Arvid was, during the last decades of the century, one of the richest men in the Nordic countries. The house by the square was his fixed point in the city. In a document from 1498, Arvid refers to the house as 'my own yard in Kalmar, which I have for my own necessity with house and cellars.'

The houses in the neighborhood also had their gable facing the square, and it is very likely that they had stepped gables. We must therefore imagine that the scene before us resembled the squares in German Hanseatic cities such as Lübeck, Wismar, and Stralsund. If we are to base it on what we know about such bourgeois houses, they should have had a two-room layout in which at least one of the rooms on the ground floor was used commercially, perhaps as a shop. Another room served as a reception area, where the owner could receive people and demonstrate his wealth, generosity, and good taste. In general, the grand architecture conveyed signals of honor, integrity, and prosperity to the surroundings.

In the square's background lay the church, which was dedicated to the sailors' saint, Saint Nicholas. With its three naves and many chapels, it was the largest and most impressive building in Kalmar and one of the largest churches in all of Sweden. Whether it had one or two towers is unknown. Around it lay a large cemetery, which was surrounded by a wall with a wicket, that is, a covered cemetery gate, and not far from there lay a school.

The most exciting thing about the square and its surroundings is the town hall, which has not yet been found. Since Kalmar was one of Sweden's richest cities, it must have been magnificent. It is mentioned in written sources starting from 1362, and thanks to account records for repair work in the 16th century, we know that it was built of stone. Many believe that the town hall was probably located southwest of the square, since there are no notices of property matters precisely there. But we do not know. Only when archaeologists get to dig in the ground will, hopefully, the town hall come to light.