Hey everyone, and welcome to World Heritage Journey, where today, we're in the Laponian
Area of northern Sweden.
Welcome to Laponia, or Lapland.
We're above the Arctic Circle in the remote northern areas of Sweden, and this World Heritage
Site covers four national parks and two nature reserves across an immense area of 9500 square
kilometres.
There's a real variety of landscapes here, there's mountains, and lakes, glaciers, pine
forests, moors and marshlands, it's really really interesting!
Let's have a look.
So this area of Laponia is a national park known as Stora Sjöfallet, and it was set
up in 1910 making it Europe's first national park.
It's just absolutely beautiful, as you can see from the snow-capped mountains, the pine
forests, the glacier as well, though it might surprise you to learn that the lake isn't
included in the national park, and that's because it's partially man-made.
There used to be a river cascading through the area with thundering waterfalls and it
was a big tourist attraction, but it was actually dammed up for hydro power and so it's not
part of the national park.
Now the World Heritage Site here is actually quite unique, because UNESCO calls it a "mixed
site", which means it has both cultural and natural heritage.
So in addition to the beauty here of the landscape, we also have cultural traditions of the indigenous
Saami people.
And they were a nomadic reindeer herding tribe that lived in various parts of the mountains
and the forests here.
And of course, being nomadic they left very few traces of their existence on the landscape,
aside from very small things like this hearth that you can see behind me.
It's actually about 300 years old, and it would've once been the centrepiece of a tent
about five metres in diameter.
So this is a traditional Saami dwelling, a peat Goahti, and it's just a house made out
of earth and timber.
They're very snug inside, you know they would have a hearth to keep warm and they would
have reindeer skins as well, and of course this one is a very modern interpretation.
But it still looks really cool.
Another of the traces left by the indigenous Saami people is this area behind me, and it's
actually the remains of a chapel built by Christian missionaries from southern Sweden.
It was built in the middle of the 17th century as part of their attempt to Christianise the
Saami, but unfortunately the chapel burned down just a few years later, and this pile
of stones is all that remains of the hearth from inside the building.
So this is the eastern side of Laponia, and it's largely characterised by taiga forests
like the one that I'm standing in now.
Those are made up of thinly packed trees, quite a lot of vegetation on the floor, and
there's plenty of marshlands around as well, including at one end of this nature reserve,
Europe's largest mire.
Now there's plenty of reindeer around as well though mostly in the winter months, as they
really like to feed on the lichen that grows on the rocks here.
Well it's been a pretty epic World Heritage Site this one, it's one of the largest we've
ever been to and one of the first "mixed" sites we've visited as well.
So it's been fantastic to see all the incredible scenery, and to learn something about the
indigenous people that live here as well.
So, that's it from me, thank you so much for watching.
Don't forget to Like and Subscribe, I'm Joel on the Road, and I'll see you at the next
World Heritage site!