Tanum, Sweden. By, Anxo Fernández Embade.

Tanum, Sweden
Tanum is a municipality in Västra Götaland Country in southern Sweden. The town council is in Tanumshede.
                                             




 Tanum is a municipality in Västra Götaland Country in southern Sweden. The town council is in Tanumshede.
In Tanum, there are a set of petroglyphs of great importance because they display a great variety and a great cultural and chronological unity. They used to illustrate the way of life (breeding animals and growing crops) and, at the same time, the belief of the different European cultures in the Bronze Age. The rock carvings in this area are outstanding because of their amount as well as due to their good quality. The figures the visitor can admire include ships, animals, men in a variety of scenes (performing rituals, hunting, working…), and so on.

 

In total there are thousands of images called the Tanum petroglyphs, on about 600 rock panels within the World Heritage Area. These are concentrated in distinct areas along a 25 km stretch, which was the coastline of a fjord during the Bronze Age, and covers an area of about 51 hectares (0.5 km²).
Tanum was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1994.
In our visit to Tanumshede we were accompanied by a guide who explained us everything about the paintings and the time of history when they were made. She said that the carvings had been painted in red to make them more visible to tourists and, on the other hand she pointed out that this work of art is in danger because of erosion due to pollution.

           

We also had the opportunity to visit the wooden huts covered with thick straw rooves, built in the vicinity of the paintings. After the explanation, we could have a walk in the beautiful forest which surrounds Tanumshede trying to find a few more carvings.
  

At the reception at the Tanumshede visitor centre, there was a book where people could comment their experience. We were pleased to find an amazing drawing into their pages.

After visiting Tanumshede, we went to Tanumstrand, a tourist resort with a hotel, apartments and a large variety of houses as well as a big restaurant where we had dinner.
The best thing of Tanumstrand was the playground (with a very big trampoline) and the smart port.

  

Fonts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Carvings_in_Tanum
http://previews.123rf.com/images/igorgolovniov/igorgolovniov1103/igorgolovniov110300136/9065932-SWEDEN-CIRCA-2001-A-stamp-printed-in-Sweden-shows-rock-painting-in-Tanum-World-Heritage-area-circa-2-Stock-Photo.jpg (picture of a Swedish stamp).