Visiting Visan's ship - a different kind of monument in Småland

To visit Visans skepp is to experience the treasure of Swedish song, in a place that feels like an ancient memorial. On a small hill by the water, there is a modern ship, with 40 Swedish songs blown in.

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The ship of wisdom

The Ship of Songs is a monument in the shape of a ship. The monument consists of 20 large boulders, each 1.8 to 3.4 metres high, each displaying two Swedish songs. The boulders have stood here since the 1980s, and are a unique attraction in Småland. We made a detour here, during an earlier trip this year.

Visans skepp is located in Storebro, about 11 kilometres south of central Vimmerby.

The story of the Ship of Wisdom

Next to Visan's ship is a text written by Ivar Gustavsson, who had the monument built together with his wife Ebba. According to the text, the idea was born on a beautiful spring day in 1978, when the couple were on an excursion to Rökstenen in Östergötland.

The couple were fascinated by the mighty rune stone, and thought that a similar monument could be erected in our time. Ivar and his wife appreciated the Swedish wisdom treasure and thought it deserved to be honoured in this way.

Evert Taube was no longer alive at the time, but Ivar contacted his widow Astri, who created in stone. She responded favourably, and later supported the project with both enthusiasm and expertise.

The stones in Visan's ship were erected between 1984 and 1988, when the monument was inaugurated by County Governor Eric Krönmark.

Songs in the Ship of Songs

There are thus a total of 40 songs on the stones. The selection has been made with the help of various song institutions such as the Swedish Song Archive and Friends of Song. The Swedish people have also contributed, via Café Norrköping. The following songs are on the stones:

Stone No 1: Stävstenen

• You old you free (text: Richard Dybeck, music: folk melody)
• The Småland Song (text: Linnéa Andrén, music: Ivar Widéen)

Stone No 2: dew stones

• The sea was never so shimmering (text and music: Evert Taube)
• Waltz on Mysingen (text and music: Evert Taube)

Stone No 3: Bellman stones

• Hwila at this source (text and music: Carl Michael Bellman)
• Butterfly winged visible on Haga (text and music: Carl Michael Bellman)

Stone No 4: Dan Andersson

• I am waiting ... (text: Dan Andersson, music: Gunnar Turesson)
• Holiday evening in the log cabin (text: Dan Andersson, music: Sven Scholander)

Stone No 5: Martin Koch

• The flower (text and music: Martin Koch)
• Happiness (text and music: Martin Koch)

Stone No 6: Gustaf Fröding

• It was in the road (text: Gustaf Fröding, music: Helfrid Lambert)
• Three girls on the wagon (text: Gustaf Fröding, music: Felix Körling)

Stone No 7: Erik Axel Karlfeldt

• In Lisbon (text: Erik Axel Karlfeldt, music: Bo Sundblad)
• Black Rudolf (text: Erik Axel Karlfeldt, music: Robert Norrby)

Stone No 8: Nils Ferlin

• May I leave you some flowers (text: Nils Ferlin, music: Lille Bror Söderlundh)
• When beauty came to the village (text: Nils Ferlin, music: Lille Bror Söderlundh)

Stone No 9: Birger Sjöberg

• The first time I saw you (text and music: Birger Sjöberg)
• Longing for Italy (text and music: Birger Sjöberg)

Stone No 10

• The time of flowers is coming (text: Israel Kolmodin, Johan Olof Wallin & Britt G Hallqvist, music: folk melody)
• No one could be safer (text: Lina Sandell-Berg, music: German folk melody)

Stone No 11

• In our garden (traditional folk song of unknown origin)
• O great God (text: Carl Boberg, music: folk melody)

Stone No 12

• It is good to be here (text and music: Gunnar Wennerberg)
• The student song (text: Herman Sätherberg, music: Prince Gustaf)

Stone No 13

• The video visa (text: Zacharias Topelius, music: Alice Tegnér)
• Little Ida's summer song (text: Astrid Lindgren, music: Georg Riedel)

Stone No 14

• Tess Saturday (text: Levi Rickson, music: Gunnar Richnau)
• American letter (text and music: Ruben Nilson)

Stone No 15

• On duty - Girl from Backafall (text: Gabriel Jönsson, music: Gunnar Turesson)
• Visa at Midsummer time (text: Rune Lindström, music: Håkan Norlén)

Stone No 16

• The girls of Småland (lyrics and music: Karl Williams)
• Elvira Madigan (text: Johan Lindström Saxon, music: folk melody)

Stone No 17

• The violin from Flen (text and music: Ulf Peder Olrog)
• Wonderful is short (lyrics and music: Povel Ramel)

Stone No 18

• My own country (text: Beppe Wolgers, music: Olle Adolphson)
• View in Molom (text and music: Alf Hambe)

Stone No 19

• About dandelion and tar odour (text and Carl Anton)
• Grimace in the morning (lyrics and music: Cornelis Vreeswijk)

Stone no. 20: The steeple stone

• Sweden (text: Verner von Heidenstam, music: Wilhelm Stenhammar)
• The star of Bethlehem (text: Viktor Rydberg, music: Alice Tegnér)

Visiting the ship of the Visan

Visiting Visan's ship is easy. The monument is located on a short detour from National Road 23, which runs between Malmö and Linköping. We stopped here with the motorhome, when we were on our way from Stockholm to the Småland Glasriket earlier this year.

To enter the site, you are asked to swish an entrance fee of 30 SEK/person (2024). According to a sign, all funds will go towards operations, repairs and maintenance.

It was a relatively short stop for us here, but it was still nice to walk around, read the stones and remember the different songs that you may have fallen on at some point in life. A nice and different place!

More to see and do in the neighbourhood

In Vimmerby you can visit The world of Astrid Lindgren and the author's house Astrid Lindgren's Näs. It is also relatively close to the charming the wooden town of Eksjö, where we can highly recommend a visit. It is also not too far to the fascinating the troll in Gamleby. Last but not least, we would like to recommend Kingdom of glass, where you can visit lots of nice glassworks and glasshouses.

Have you visited the Ship of Wisdom?

Have you visited the Ship of the Whispers? What did you think of this attraction?

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