Hälsingegårdar (världsarv)

( Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland )

Description

The Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland (Swedish: Världsarvet Hälsingegårdar) is a World Heritage Site inscribed on 1 July 2012 as Sweden's fifteenth entry on the list. Seven farmhouses erected in the 19th century were eventually selected to represent the most distinguished and well preserved examples of local architectural and decorative tradition.

Preparations for a nomination began during the 1990s. The initial nomination was a heterogeneous collection of farmhouses and environments connected to agrarian culture in Hälsingland. Fifteen sites, including an entire village were represented. The first nomination was rejected at the conference in Sevilla in 2009, with the suggestion of curating a narrower selection of sites. In the second and successful nomination, there was a pronounced focus on local traditions on decoratively painted interiors, as reflected by the World Heritage Site's english title Decorated farmhouses of Hälsingland.