THE TEMPLE AT UPPSALA: WAS IT BENEATH THE CHURCH OR WAS IT DUAL USE WITH ROYAL HALL?

By the Chieftain -

A critical, location-based analysis of the temple, grove, and sacrificial tree in relation to today’s Gamla Uppsala - Old Uppsala.

This study synthesizes textual, archaeological, topographic evidence, and a firsthand visit to evaluate where the famed cult complex at (Gamla) Uppsala most likely stood relative to modern features—the medieval church, the royal mounds, the terraced “royal hall” plateau, and the spring popularly called Odens brunn. I weigh three main placement models: (A) a temple directly beneath or immediately adjacent to the standing church; (B) a dual-use hall (“hof-hall”) on the large terrace north of the church that functioned both as aristocratic banqueting hall and cult house; and (C) a separate shrine building on the northern/­eastern terraces, with the grove and sacred tree on nearby lower ground and the spring close by. I also integrate the late-11th-century political violence around Blót-Sveinn (Blót-Sweyn)—reportedly killed by burning in a hall—and consider whether that episode could correlate with the first Christian building phases at Uppsala. The conclusion argues for a clustered cult topography centered on the churchyard–terrace axis, with the building component most plausibly under or immediately north of the church and the grove/tree and spring in the adjoining low grounds east/southeast—consistent with Adam of Bremen’s “temple + grove + spring” triad and with the amphitheatrical setting created by the royal mounds.

Part of the Gamla Uppsala Church complex

1) Sources, constraints, and what “temple” might mean at Uppsala

The two medieval narratives that matter most are Adam of Bremen (late 11th c.), who describes a glittering temple flanked by a sacred grove where victims were hung and a spring for offerings; and the Hervarar saga (c. 13th c. compilation), which preserves Swedish traditions about assemblies, a blót-tree reddened with sacrificial blood, and the power struggle between Inge the Elder and Blót-Sveinn. Adam’s account is second-hand and rhetorically charged, but it gives a coherent ritual layout: building + grove + water, on level ground ringed by hills “like a theatre.” That topographical cue is unusually concrete. The royal mounds at Gamla Uppsala, rising over a flat, central apron, fit the amphitheater simile well.

Archaeology complicates the picture in three ways:

Under/near the church: Sune Lindqvist’s 1926 trenches reported postholes beneath the church, long interpreted as a “temple.” Later work, especially Bengt Nordahl’s re-evaluation—argued those posts represent multiple construction phases, not one giant building. More recent geophysical surveys have nevertheless detected substantial timber structures beneath/around the church, including under the north transept.

The Gamla Uppsala Church on top of another church and possibly the Heathen Temple

The Great Hall terrace: Excavations on the high terrace north of the church exposed an impressive hall c. 50 m long (Merovingian/early Viking Age), with evidence for formal décor and curated deposits—features typical of lordly halls that also hosted cult and oath-drinking. The hall burned around the early 800s.

The Royal Hall location on a terrace just North of the Church

Monumental post-alignments: In 2013, archaeologists uncovered kilometer-scale lines of massive posts (5–6 m spacing; one line at least ~1 km, another ~0.5 km). Dendro/typological assessment places this system broadly in the 5th–6th centuries, long before Adam’s time. Whether these marked processional avenues, boundaries, or sacral fencing, they attest to an extraordinary, ritualized landscape, but they do not date the 11th-century temple.

Given this record, “temple” at Uppsala should be treated as a functional label—a conspicuous roofed space that concentrated offerings, images, and drinking rites—co-located with outdoor sacral features (grove + spring). In Scandinavian central places, halls routinely carried ritual authority; there is no requirement that the cult building be architecturally distinct from a great hall.

2) The modern reference frame at Gamla Uppsala

To orient the discussion:

Gamla Uppsala Church occupies the truncated remnant of the 12th-century cathedral, itself successor to an earlier Christian phase. The present church represents about half the medieval footprint; traces of older walls are visible, and a pre-stone wooden church is likely in the 11th century.

The Royal Mounds (south of the church) form three dominant barrows and dozens of lesser mounds around a broad, level central apron; this stage-like flat is the space many researchers correlate with Adam’s “theatre.”

Path to the Mounds heading Southwest

The Royal Terrace / Hall plateau lies north of the church, an elevated, man-made platform where the 50-meter hall stood.

Odens brunn (Óðinsbrunn) is a small, plank-lined spring/well east of the Middle Mound. Dendrochronology on its wood lining dates to the 1180s, i.e., high medieval; it has often been pressed into service as “Adam’s spring,” but the dating argues for a later (possibly Christian) refurbishment or a new well built on an older cult place.

The post-alignments run at landscape scale north–south and east–west, framing the central complex; they signal an early (5th-century) monumentalization and perhaps a processional choreography that later cult could reuse, even if the timbers themselves were gone.

3) Scenario testing: three placements for the temple and grove

A. Under or adjacent to the present church

This scenario places the temple where the church now stands—particularly toward the choir/north transept. The grove and sacrificial tree would have lain beside it, on the flat apron edged by the mounds. Adam’s “level ground” and “theatre of hills” matches this spot precisely. Archaeology shows substantial timber building phases beneath the church, consistent with cult structures. The Christian church would then have been a deliberate overwrite.

B. A dual-use “Hof-hall” on the royal terrace north of the church

This interpretation holds that the 50-meter hall was itself the temple, with idols and libations staged in its main room. Archaeological parallels elsewhere show great halls doubling as ritual centers. However, the known terrace hall burned c. 800—two centuries too early for Adam’s account—though a later replacement could have stood there.

Model of a Hall in the Gamla Uppsala Museum

Mural of a Royal Hall at the Odinsborg Restaurant at Gamla Uppsala

C. A separate shrine on northern/eastern terraces with grove and spring nearby

Here, the temple would be a distinct shrine on the terraced slopes north or northeast of the church. The grove would be in the lower flats east of the mounds, and the spring corresponds to Odens brunn. Post-alignments support the idea of an enclosed temenos. The weakness is the lack of direct 11th-century shrine evidence on these terraces.

4) The grove and the “sacrificial tree”

Adam’s triptych—building + grove + spring—does not require co-location. Scandinavian cult sites often spread their rituals: indoor offerings in a hall, hanging sacrifices in a grove, and immersion sacrifices in a spring. At Gamla Uppsala, the grove most plausibly lay in the wetter flats east and southeast of the church and mounds, where toponyms such as Offerlunden preserve the association. The “sacrificial tree” was likely the most prominent tree of this grove. Odens brunn could represent the remembered spring, even if the surviving wood lining is 12th century.

5) Was the royal hall itself the temple?

Comparative sites such as Gudme, Tissa, and Helgö show great halls functioning as cult halls. Gamal Uppsala’s Hall terrace is a strong candidate for dual use, especially given Adam’s reference to a triclinium (banqueting chamber). The obstacle is chronology: the known hall burned centuries too early, though continuity of a hall tradition on the terrace is likely.

6) Two churches and the hiding of the temple

The present Gamal Uppsala church is the reduced remnant of a large 12th-century cathedral, itself preceded by an 11th-century wooden church. This sequence makes it probable that Christian builders deliberately targeted the heathen cult focus. Thus, the heathen temple may lie directly beneath the medieval stonework, “hidden” under successive layers of church construction.

'Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus d'Olaus Magnus (1555)  based on Adam of Bremen

7) Blót-Sveinn, hall-burning, and the transition

Saga sources recount that when Inge the Elder refused to sacrifice, Blót-Sveinn seized power, until Inge returned and in cowardly fashion murdered and burned Sveinn in his hall. Tradition connects this episode with Uppsala, and the timeline (1080s–1090s) fits the first Christian phases there. This sequence—hall-burning followed by cathedral-building—illustrates how the cult landscape was transformed into a Christian one.

This runestone outside of Uppsala mentions a Sven and a Moy (which is in Old Norse identical to Maer - Sven's sister).  This Sven on the runestone believed to be identical with King Blot Sven since it mentions the two names and is dated to around the same time period.

8) Conclusion

The temple complex at Gamla Uppsala is best envisioned as a cluster: a roofed building, a sacred grove with a principal tree, and a spring. The strongest candidate for the building is the area beneath or just north of the present church, which aligns with Adam’s description, archaeological traces, and Christian succession. The grove and tree most likely occupied the wetter flats east/southeast of the mounds, while the spring corresponds to the locale of Odens brunn. The royal hall terrace to the north could have served dual religious/cultic and political functions, even if the specific hall excavated there predates Adam’s report. The saga of Blót-Sveinn, with its violent hall-burning, dovetails with this transition: the destruction of heathen kingship at Uppsala and the rise of the cathedral on its ashes.  These are all various thoughts and theories.

The Chieftain of the Tribe visited Gamla Uppsala, the burial mounds of course where he performed a blot and then visited the fields around the current church as well as the church itself and then went north of the church to look at the terraces and the surrounding areas. So firsthand the thoughts he had as Chieftain were that the heathen temple or part of it lies underneath the church or it was a dual use Royal Hall of the Viking kings that served as a temple as well hence the confusion of Adam of Bremen possibly. What is clear though is that these things were there at Gamla Uppsala somewhere in one of these constructs.  Long have politics and the church played a part in suppressing that the heathen temple actually existed and was there it did exist in our opinion in some fashion either independent of the royal hall or as a dual use royal hall heathen temple next to these sacred royal barrier mounts.  In typical fashion as is done in many places in the process of Christianization sights of our faith were destroyed and built over with Christian churches.  While the story of Blót-Sveinn may have indeed taken place at Uppsala and the timing would match with the creation of the first church there afterwards. Blót-Sveinn was burned/murdered in his hall: around 1087 CE according to Sagas.  The first Christian church built at Uppsala: in 1090s CE (within a decade or two of Sveinn’s death).  Following this logic, this means the wooden church could have risen on or near the ashes of Blót-Sveinn’s hall, making the timeline a direct succession: the hall of the last heathen king destroyed in fire, and within years, a church erected — the most visible sign of Christian suppression over our faith at Uppsala.

Also, try eating at Odinsborg - a great brunch and lunch restaurant at Gamla Uppsala. Visit the Museum too.

Looking Northeast across the mounds towards the site where the Temple/Royal Hall were located

Blot at the Western edge of the Mounds

References & Links

Adam of Bremen, Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (translation: F. J. Tschan, 2002).

Sundqvist, Olof. An Arena for Higher Powers: Ceremonial Buildings and Religious Strategies for Rulership in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Brill, 2016.

Ljungkvist, John. “The Great Hall at Gamla Uppsala.” Archaeological reports.

Nordahl, Bengt. Gamla Uppsala i ny belysning. Uppsala, 1996.

Price, Neil & Alkarp, Magnus. Gamla Uppsala: The Ancient Capital of Sweden. 2005.

Swedish National Property Board – Gamla Uppsala Church history: https://www.sfv.se/uppsala

Archaeology project page on Gamla Uppsala post alignments: https://arkeologigamlauppsala.se

Upplandsmuseet report on Offerlunden & Östra terrassen (Rapport 2015:30).

Article on dendrochronology of Odens brunn: https://arkeologigamlauppsala.se/odens-brunn

Hervarar saga (English translation available via Northvegr.org and other Old Norse text repositories).

Nationalmuseum/RAÄ heritage database entries on the Royal Mounds and terrace excavations.