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Innerstaden in Visby in Gotland, Gotlands län, Sweden — Northern Europe (a Nordic Country in Scandinavia)
 

St Göransporten
⎯⎯⎯
St. George Gate

 
 
St Göransporten Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Col. James F. Jamison, USMC (Ret), May 18, 2026
1. St Göransporten Marker
Inscription.  
St Göransporten
🇸🇪
I en skyttespringa i tornets fjärde våning sitter en slungsten från en kastmaskin hårt fastkilad alltsedan medeltiden. Ringmuren fyllde verkligen en funktion som försvarsanläggning! Träbron över vallgrayen vilar på två valvmurar och kunde tas bort i orostider.

S:t Göransportens namn och placering förklaras av att den utgjorde förbindelse mellan staden och S:t Gafans hospital. Hospitalet var en medeltida anläggning för spetälska som placerades utanför murama på grund av rädsla för smittspridning. Hospitalskyrkan, S:t Görans ruin, finns fortfarande kvar 300 meter norr om muren.

Idag ligger Visbys moderna lasarett i samma område som det forna hospitalet.

Visby Världsarv
Ett världsarv är ett kultur- eller naturminne som är så värdefullt att det är en angelägenhet för hela mänskligheten att vårda och bevara.

Visby blev ett världsarv 1995. Världsarvet omfattar staden innanför murarna inklusive angränsande grönområden.

UNESCO:s motivering lyder:
"Visby är ett synnerligen framstående exempel på en nordeuropeisk muromgärdad medeltida handelsstad med utomordentligt väl bevarad stadsmiljö och synnerligen värdefull äldre bebyggelse som åskådligt illustrerar denna typ av betydelsefull mänsklig boplats, både genom dess form och funktion."

Visbys
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karaktäristiska drag:
• Stadsplanen med sitt ålderdomliga gatunät
• De medeltida packhusen vilka tjänade som affärslokaler och varulager åt stadens köpmän.
•Ringmuren byggdes under 12-1300-talen. Muren är 3,4 km lång. 27 marktorn och 9 sadeltorn är bevarade.
• Kyrkoruinerna är 12 till antalet. Kyrkorna uppfördes huvudsakligen under 12-1300-talen och övergavs i samband med stadens tillbakagång och reformationen på 1500-talet.
• Den välbevarade trähusbebyggelsen i stadens östra delar där gaturummet präglas av hus och gårdstomter från 17- och 1800-talen.

🇬🇧
A glance up to the fourth storey will reveal a stone missile, that was catapulted from a mangonel in the Medieval Period, and has been firmly wedged in the arrowslit ever since. What better proof of the need to fortify the town in the Medieval Period! The wooden bridge spanning the wide ditch rests on two arches, and could be removed in times of unrest.

The name of the gateway, and its location are explained by the fact that it provided a passage between the town and St George's asylum. The asylum was a medieval institution for lepers; it was
Visby Walled City Tower image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Col. James F. Jamison, USMC (Ret), May 18, 2026
2. Visby Walled City Tower
situated outside the walls due to the fear of contagion. The asylum church, St Görans ruin, is still standing 300 metres north of the wall. Today, Visby's modern hospital is located on the same site as the former asylum.

Visby World Heritage
A world heritage is an item of cultural or natural heritage which is of such outstanding interest that it needs to be safeguarded as part of the world! heritage of mankind as a whole.

Visby was added to the World Heritage List in 1995. It includes the intramural city with adjoining green open spaces. UNESCO's motives:
"Visby is an outstanding example of a north European medieval walled trading town which preserves with remarkable completeness a townscape and assemblage of high-quality ancient buildings that illustrate graphically the form and function of this type of significant human settlement."

Striking features in Visby:
• A town plan with an ancient street network.
• Medieval warehouses, serving as sales premises and storerooms for the merchants of the town. • The town wall, built in the 13th and 14th centuries, is 3.4 kms long. 27 ground towers and 9 hanging towers have been preserved. • The 12 church ruins are the remains of churches erected in the 13th and 14th centuries. With the 16th century Reformation the churches were largely abandoned.
• Well-preserved wooden buildings at the east end of the town, where the streets are dominated by houses and gardens from the 18th and 19th centuries.

 
Erected by Gotlands Museum.
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Forts and Castles • Religion & Religious Structures • Science & Medicine. A significant historical year for this entry is 1995.
 
Location. 57° 38.729′ N, 18° 17.982′ E. Marker is in Visby, Gotlands län, in Gotland. It is in Innerstaden.
Catapulted Stone wedged in archery slot image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Col. James F. Jamison, USMC (Ret), May 18, 2026
3. Catapulted Stone wedged in archery slot
It can be reached from Silverhättan, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: Silverhättan 10, Visby, Gotlands län 621 55, Sweden. Touch for directions.

Regionally, it is in Europe, the European Union, Scandinavia, the Nordic Countries, the Schengen Area, and the Western World. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Hanseatic League.


 
Also see . . .  Sankt Göransporten Arrow Slit (Atlas Obscura). Intro:
A catapult rock from Gotland’s 13th-century civil war is still lodged in Scandinavia's best-preserved medieval city wall.
(Submitted on May 20, 2026.) 
 
View of the sea from St. George’s gate image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Jamie Gallant Jamison, May 18, 2026
4. View of the sea from St. George’s gate
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on May 21, 2026. It was originally submitted on May 19, 2026, by Col. James F. Jamison, USMC (Ret) of Coronado, California. This page has been viewed 39 times since then. Photos:   1, 2, 3. submitted on May 19, 2026, by Col. James F. Jamison, USMC (Ret) of Coronado, California.   4. submitted on May 21, 2026, by Jamie Gallant Jamison of Coronado, California. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.
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Nov. 10, 2026