Three Award-winning Cultural Heritage Sites
Europa Nostra means “our Europe” in Latin, and the organisation is one of the leading players in European cultural heritage. It encompasses 200 national organisations from virtually every country in Europe. Each year, Europa Nostra presents cultural heritage awards in four categories: conservation, research, dedicated service, and education, training and awareness-raising. The three wooden towns of Eksjö, Hjo and Nora have all won awards in the “Conservation” category.
Three wooden towns - Eksjö, Hjo and Nora
Each of the three towns has its own distinctive character. Located in different regions and with very different industries, Eksjö is a military town in the highlands of Småland, Hjo is a spa resort town on the edge of Lake Vättern, and Nora is an iron and mining town in Bergslagen. However, thanks to our network, all three award-winning towns still retain the genuine, vibrant small-town feeling of a bygone era.
The establishment of the network - Three Wooden Towns
Fire was the biggest threat to Swedish cities in the 17th and 18th centuries. Hjo has mostly been spared, except for the fire of 1794. The next major threat occurred during the 1960s and 70s, when more than 40% of the oldest homes in Sweden were demolished. In 1997, the Three Wooden Towns network was established to promote the collaborative preservation of the wooden architecture in Eksjö, Hjo and Nora. The network wants to contribute to a vibrant, active town centre by showing the value of the wooden towns. The aim is to make the towns more readable for residents interested in building history and maintenance, as well as for curious visitors, through educational exhibitions and books, lectures and guided tours that tell the town’s history. The network has been going strong for 25 years, and interest in these wooden towns is on the rise!
The awards
Hjo was the first to be awarded with Europa Nostra’s medal of honour. We received it in 1990, with this commendation, “...for the remarkable preservation of the wooden town of Hjo, which still retains its distinctive character and charm”. Nora received its award in 1993 for the preservation of its wooden houses, industrial monuments and the Pershyttan railway. It was Eksjö’s turn in 1997, for the “extraordinary renovation of a significant collection of older wooden houses, giving new life to an old town centre.”