Stories have always been around, they were told when everyone had finished work and gathered around the fire. The first stories date back to long before our era and by continuing to tell them we know that.
Around 1800 it was still very common for people to tell each other stories around the fire after work, but a century later this had almost completely disappeared, replaced by the written word and later, when technology advanced, by radio, film and TV.
Around the 1980s it seemed that the most original form of culture, that of the spoken word, was disappearing. But suddenly stories were told again, at festivals, in storytelling cafes etc., all over the western world.
In Småland, in the area around Ljungby, many sagas and legends still lived among the people and many well-known and even famous storytellers lived there. Many stories had already been documented since 1800, as a result of which the Sagomuseet was opened here in 1990. The museum is the heart of a large area in which all kinds of legends have their origins, often in the midst of beautiful nature and in special places.
It is a beautifully decorated small museum. You will find well-known and lesser-known sagas from the area, beautifully designed by textile artist Mia Einarsdotter and painter and sculptor Kjell Sundberg. There is a lot of attention to detail and you can pull strings, open drawers. Suddenly a song sounds or a dog barks. And if you walk around the rooms again, new details will stand out. And worth a visit for young and old, especially if you like stories! Every year just before midsummer they organize a large storytellers festival with participants from all over the world.
Since November 2018, the Sagomuseet Ljungby has been on the UNESCO list of intangible heritage.
