St Nicolai Church Ruin, Visby

Gotland · Sweden · Ruin

The carbuncle stones in the gable burned so bright that sailors steered by them – until Valdemar Atterdag took them and the sea took him.

The Dominican church in Visby was raised in the 13th century and burned when the men of Lübeck stormed the town in 1525. What remains is a vast roofless nave with an east gable dressed in brick rosettes. Those rosettes gave rise to one of Gotland's most widespread legends: that carbuncles were set into them, gemstones glowing with their own light, shining far out to sea so that skippers could steer by them. When the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag ravaged Gotland in 1361 he is said to have prised the stones loose and carried them aboard. Off the Karlsö islands his ship went down with the plunder, and the stones are said to lie on the seabed still, shimmering up through the water. Older versions place them in St Mary's instead – but it is the empty gable of Nicolai that people search.

FAQ

Where is St Nicolai Church Ruin, Visby located?

St Nicolai Church Ruin, Visby is in Gotland, Sweden.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Pymouss · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons