Sauna

Comes from: The farm Åkran in Helgådalen.
Age: Uncertain, probably 1700th century
To the museum: 1957

The external dimensions are 4.6 x 3,2 m, and the house is built with laminated timber on one floor. The foundation wall is of gray stone. Inside, the sauna stove is also built of ordinary gray stone and there are two benches along the walls.

The building was moved to where it now stands in 1980, and at the same time it was thoroughly renovated. Rotten logs were replaced, the roof got new turf and today's furnishings were put in place.

Saunas with facilities for steam baths were common in the Middle Ages, but they became more and more rare in the 15th-1600th centuries. In the 1800th century, they only occurred sporadically in Norway, but the sauna culture has persisted in Finland. In this country, the sauna could occasionally take on a new function as a drying house.

In the Middle Ages, it was common for women and men to bathe together. One reason why the saunas disappeared was ecclesiastical opposition to this, and it is also common to think that the spread of syphilis from the 1500th century played a role.