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Founded: 19th centuryCategory: Miscellaneous historic sites in Sweden
Historical period: The Age of Enlightenment (Sweden)
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The small Grisslehamn village is today a well-preserved sample of 19th century architecture and popular attraction for daily trips. The name Grisslehamn was first mentioned in a document from 1376 about the mail route between Sweden and Finland. This Grisslehamn was located some 20 km south of today's location. In the mid-18th century, most of the old village was destroyed in a fire, and it was decided to move Grisslehamn to its current location to make the mail route shorter. Conveying mail by row boat from Sweden to Åland, from whence it was transported to the Finnish mainland, was, together with fishing, one of the most important sources of income for the inhabitants of Grisslehamn and other parts of Roslagen for a long time, until steam ships took over the mail routes in the early 20th century.
During the Finnish War in 1809 a small unit of Russian cossacks attacked to Grisslehamn over the frozen Gulf of Bothnia. In the battle 80 Swedish soldiers surrended and several were killed.
Today there are several buildings dating from the 19th century, like the toll station and old barracks. The post office was built in 1755 and the chapel in 1909.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.