Three monumental burial mounds rise above the plain at Gamla Uppsala, an ancient center of power and ceremony. Their cremated burials date to the sixth century; nearby terraces, graves and church traces reveal a landscape that changed from an elite Iron Age center to Sweden’s first archbishopric.
Quick facts
The three Royal Mounds date to around the sixth century, during the Vendel period.
Excavations found cremation burials with remains of animals, glass vessels, gaming pieces and imported ornaments.
Gamla Uppsala became Sweden’s first archbishopric in 1164; the seat moved to Östra Aros in 1273.
Planning your visit
The Royal Mounds belong to an Iron Age centre of power, but the people buried within them have not been identified. Excavations of the eastern and western mounds found cremation burials and fragments of objects associated with high status. Read the great earthworks as evidence of a powerful society rather than as securely identified graves of named kings.
Follow the paths around the burial ground to see the mounds in relation to the wider landscape. The nearby museum provides the archaeological context, while Gamla Uppsala church recalls a later chapter when this was an archbishop's seat. The present city-centre cathedral is a different building, several kilometres away.
Walking around the site and climbing a mound are different activities. The museum states that the Royal Mounds are normally closed to visitors, with access offered on particular guided walks. Stay on permitted paths, respect barriers and check the current museum programme if you want a guided ascent; the outdoor visit does not depend on the museum being open.
Sources and verification
- Upplandsmuseet: the archaeological area and excavations
- Destination Uppsala: the Royal Mounds
- Gamla Uppsala Museum: guided mound access
Sources checked by Finding Locations using AI-assisted research. This is a source check, not a field inspection. Check the official venue information before visiting.
Get directions to Gamla Uppsala Royal Mounds. Confirm the visitor entrance and current access with the venue before travelling.
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Guide
Three grass-covered mounds rise from the otherwise level plain north of Uppsala. They are not isolated monuments: look across the ridge and the church, Ting mound, burial fields and low platforms of the former royal estate begin to make Gamla Uppsala legible as a whole landscape. The mounds are the most visible part of a place where power, burial and religious life gathered over many centuries.
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Gamla Uppsala Museum
At the edge of the Royal Mounds, Gamla Uppsala Museum makes an archaeological landscape legible through original finds, a large site model and new research. Its exhibitions connect elite burials and timber monuments with a place that became Sweden’s first archbishopric in 1164.
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On a low rise north of Gamla Uppsala, Valsgärde preserves the traces of a long-used Iron Age cemetery: boat graves, cremations, chambers and coffins. The field is distinct from the nearby Royal Mounds; many celebrated finds are now held at Uppsala University Museum Gustavianum.
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