Gam­mel­stad, at the head of the Gulf of Both­nia, is the best-pre­served exam­ple of a ‘church vil­lage‘, a unique kind of vil­lage for­mer­ly found through­out north­ern Scan­di­navia. The 424 wood­en hous­es, hud­dled round the ear­ly 15th-cen­­tu­ry stone church, were used only on Sun­days and at reli­gious fes­ti­vals to house wor­ship­pers from the sur­round­ing coun­try­side who could not return home the same day because of the dis­tance and dif­fi­cult trav­el­ling con­di­tions.