Sweden · Ruin
Bulverket
The Bulverket is the remains of a large 12th-century wooden fortification built in the middle of Lake Tingstäde on Gotland. At its prime it was a square wooden platform on timber caissons, ringed by concentric palisades, with houses and mooring landings; its exact purpose is unknown. Archaeological work has mapped the submerged timbers and recovered boat fragments used to reconstruct a Viking-style craft.
Its prime
1135
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1135
What Bulverket looked like in its prime.
A vast square wooden platform formed by four broad piers on tall square log caissons, each pier about 30–40 m wide and the platform sides ~170 m long, enclosing a central open basin of water. Two concentric circular palisades of vertical timber piles surround the platform, the outer palisade standing up to 50 m from the platform and the whole construction about 250 m in diameter. On the platform sit rows of small 3 × 3 m log and post‑and‑plank houses with low wooden roofs, decks about 1 m above the water, and central boat landings where clinker boats are moored.
Its story
The story of Bulverket.
The Bulverket is the remains of a large wooden fortification built in the middle of Lake Tingstäde on Gotland — a platform with houses on timber caissons, surrounded by a double palisade, the whole construction some 250 metres in diameter, with mooring landings. A 1989 archaeological survey dated its building to the 1130s and suggests it may have been used for less than a century.
Its original purpose is unknown: theories suggest a shelter during the turbulent times on Gotland at the end of the Viking Age, or the site of a last stand. Archaeological work has mapped the submerged timbers and recovered the remains of three boats; one served as the model for the Krampmacken, a Viking boat reconstructed in 1980 that has since made several journeys along old Viking waterways through Eastern Europe.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1135.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Bulverket — including 1 interior: interior of a typical platform house. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Create History
Recreate Bulverket with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1135 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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