Runestones

Runestones

There are more than 4,000 runic inscriptions in Sweden. They range from the 3rd century to the end of the Viking Age, each with messages and announcements. They constitute the oldest preserved original documents in the Swedish language and are therefore an important link to Sweden's history.

From the early 1900’s to the 1980’s, Sweden’s rune stones were documented and published in an extensive series of volumes ‘Sveriges Runinskrifter’. The lionshare of this documentation is done by Erik Brate and Elias Wessén. Nowadays much of this data is published digitally and accessible via the Rundata website. 

We are lucky to have the VIK INK studio in an area which is full of historical sites from Stone Age to Medival Period. Several Viking Age runestones are within minutes away from the tattoo studio and if you would like to see these ancient giants in person, we would be happy to take you there. 

Sveriges Runinskrifter

In Sveriges Runinskrifter we also find a wealth of photography of the runestones in their natural environment. Many of these stones still stand as they always and, hopefully, alway will remain so. The stones in these volumes are all documented per province and numbered. Each province has their own code followed by a number, for example VG169 (Västergötland 169). At VIKINK we have the full library available online containing all the books. Contact us if you want access to the files. 

Rune stones in Västergötland

Below we will list a few of the runestones in the area of the our tattoo studio. We'd be happy to show you these in person and organise a trip to get inspired.

 

Above we see runestone VG169, located in Svedjorna in Södra Ving. This stone during its life was split in half for unknown reasons, but  put back together in the 1900's. Of this repair a black and white photo exists, giving a unique insight in the life of this particular rune stone. 

The inscription on this stone reads:

"Tole and Torny made these monuments in memory of Tore and Klakke(?), their sons".

The photo of the restoration of stone VG169 in 1936. Today the crack is still visible. The stone is on public land and easily accessible. 

 

Many runestones throughout Scandinavia are found near or on Christian sites, like the runestones below which are found in a church Blidsberg, not far from the studio. Especially as the Viking Age progressed, more and more rune stones started showing Christian influences like crosses.