DBW's Botanical Garden and Almedalen: Visby's Green Seafront

Along the northwestern seafront of Visby, just inside and outside the medieval coastal wall, two contiguous parks form the green lung of the city: DBW's Botanical Garden (known to locals simply as Botan) and Almedalen. Together they trace Visby's transformation from a silted medieval Hanseatic harbour into a 19th century seaside resort and modern university and civic forum.

DBW's Botanical Garden (Botan) and Sankt Olof Ruin

DBW's Botanical Garden was established in 1855 by Sällskapet De Badande Vännerna (The Society of Bathing Friends), a philanthropic and civic association founded in Visby in 1814. Originally planted to cultivate fruit trees and mulberry bushes and teach horticulture, the garden was redesigned in the 1930s into an English landscape park sheltered from Baltic winds by the seaside stretch of Visby ringmur. Because the surrounding limestone walls absorb solar heat and Gotland enjoys mild autumn seas, tender species thrive here at 57 degrees north latitude, including giant sequoia, ginkgo, handkerchief trees (Davidia involucrata), figs, walnuts, magnolias, and an oval rose garden (Rosariet). At the southern end of the lawns stands the ivy-covered limestone ruin of Sankt Olof, a 13th century basilica dedicated to King Olaf Haraldsson of Norway.

Almedalen: From Medieval Harbour Lagoon to Political Forum

Immediately south of Kruttornet and Strandgatan lies Almedalen (the Elm Valley), a landscaped park centred on a reflection pond with waterfowl. During the 12th and 13th centuries, this depression was Visby's sheltered medieval harbour, guarded by Kruttornet and flanked by the merchant warehouses of Strandgatan. Post-glacial rebound (land uplift) and siltation gradually closed the basin, and in the 1870s the city planted elms and paths to create a public park. On 25 July 1968, Swedish Education Minister (later Prime Minister) Olof Palme improvised a public speech standing on the back of a flatbed lorry beside Kruttornet in Almedalen. That annual summer tradition grew into Almedalsveckan (formally organised since 1982), held every year in calendar week 26 when Sweden's parliamentary party leaders, journalists, and civic groups gather for open-air speeches and seminars.

Almedalsbiblioteket and Uppsala University Campus Gotland

Framing the southern edge of Almedalen are Almedalsbiblioteket (the combined public and university library opened in 2001) and the Malt Factory buildings of Uppsala University Campus Gotland, formed on 1 July 2013 when Gotland University merged with Uppsala University. Visitors can stroll freely through both parks at any hour of the year, following paved paths from the Sankt Olof ruin and the Botanical Garden's wooden bridge and herb garden out through the seaside wall openings to the Almedalen pond and harbour promenade.