Hovgården
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| Location | Ekerö Municipality, Sweden |
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| Coordinates | 59°21′41.33″N 17°31′54.24″E / 59.3614806°N 17.5317333°ECoordinates: 59°21′41.33″N 17°31′54.24″E / 59.3614806°N 17.5317333°E |
| History | |
| Founded | 8th century |
| Abandoned | 10th century |
| Periods | Viking Age |
| Official name | Birka and Hovgården |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | iii, iv |
| Designated | 1993 (17th session) |
| Reference no. | 555 |
| State Party | Sweden |
| Region | Europe and North America |
Hovgården is an archaeological site on the Lake Mälaren island of Adelsö in Ekerö Municipality in central-eastern Sweden. During the Viking Age, the centre of the prospering Mälaren Valley was the settlement Birka, founded in the mid-8th century and abandoned in the late 10th century and located on the island Björkö just south of Adelsö. Hovgården is believed to have been the site from which kings and chieftains ruled the area. Hovgården, together with Birka became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.
Hovgården is located on the flat country north-west of the Romanesque Adelsö Church, characterised by a narrow rift valley stretching north to forest-laden moraines. These historical meadows lands were cultivated in the 19th century and have hardly been altered since, as several well-preserved 18th century farmyards bear witness to.
The oldest archaeological remains on Adelsö, found north of Hovgården, are grave fields and burial mounds from the Bronze Age (c. 1800-500 BCE). Apparently this culture survived into the Iron Age (500-800 CE) as graves from the early part of this period have been found at several locations in the area. At Hovgården some 124 graves have been found; the oldest from late Roman Iron Age (1-400 CE) and the youngest from the beginning of the Middle Ages (c. 1050-1520), indicating the area has been settled uninterruptedly throughout this period.
Just north of the parish church are five large burial mounds of which three are called Kungshögar. In Swedish, Kung meaning King and högar, from the Old Norse word haugr, meaning mound or barrow. Hovgården apparently was the location for a royal estate Kungsgård as early as the Viking Age (c. 800-1050 CE). An excavation of one of these royal mounds in 1917 revealed the remains of a wealthy man who lived around 900 CE. He was burned lying in a boat, dressed in expensive clothing but without weapons, accompanied by horses, cows, and dogs.
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