Research and development

Background to the research work

The church will be rebuilt

In 2002, the National Heritage Board decided that Södra Råda Old Church should be rebuilt. This was after the then National Heritage Officer Erik Wegræus had held discussions with Gullspång municipality and the residents of Södra Råda. The church was to be reconstructed "as an educational example to provide new craft skills and knowledge of our medieval history". But first, an archaeological survey was carried out on the site of the church. The purpose of an archaeological survey was to gain new knowledge about the history of the area and perhaps also an answer to why the church was built there. 

Södra Råda project starts

The Södra Råda project started in 2002. In 2004, the final stage of three years of research excavations was carried out at Södra Råda old church site. A total of eleven archaeologists from the Swedish National Heritage Board, Västergötland Museum, Västmanland County Museum, Värmland Museum and the Södra Råda Old Church Site Foundation worked on archaeology and communication at the church ruins. After the project was completed, the Swedish National Heritage Board wrote several reports from the excavations and they can be read on the Swedish National Heritage Board's website. A book Archaeology in Södra Råda by Ebba Knabbe was also published .

The fundraising foundation is established

The Södra Råda Old Church Site Fundraising Foundation was established in September 2003 with support from the National Heritage Board and local support. The foundation has since taken over ownership of the log church from the National Heritage Board and aims to continue to raise and manage funds to rebuild, care for and preserve the church site and its cultural objects, and to keep the site open to the public.

The Crafts Laboratory coordinates

The Crafts Laboratory at the University of Gothenburg has led the reconstruction project since 2010 under the research leader Gunnar Almevik and PhD student Karl Magnus Melin. The university has participated in preliminary investigations, seminars, documentation and project coordination, including applications and reporting to funders.