woop

Information in English

Dating from the 1690’s, the Rope Walk on the island of Lindholmen
made cordage for the Navy for almost 250 years. It has remained
almost unchanged until the present day but since production finally
ceased in 1960 the 300 metre long building has remained more or less
unused.
The Naval Town of Karlskona was designated as a World Heritage
Site in December 1998 and represents an exceptionally well preserved
expression of the distinctive architectural and town planning ideals of
the baroque period in Sweden. The Rope Walk on Lindholmen is
without doubt the most important historic building in the Navy Yard
and even in an international perspective has few equals.
Of the 100 or so rope walks in Sweden at the beginning of the last
century, only Westerberg p.l.c. in Norrköping still produces rope on a
commercially viable basis. However, there is now a fine rope walk
museum with its roots from the early nineteenth century at Älvängen
near Göteborg. This is very much an active museum, where one of the
principle objectives is to ensure that the traditional skills of the rope
maker are not lost to future generations.


Shipyard history and importance

In January 2004 the Karlskrona Dockyard Society, VHFK, held its first
meeting. The aim of the Society is to encourage and make known
research into the history and the importance of the yard and of those
who worked there.
In accordance with these intentions the Society has initiated a
restoration project that plans to show the Lindholmen ropewalk as a
fully operative enterprise such as it would have been in the
past. The rope walk is open to the general public and allows the visitor to gain an accurate understanding of this highly valued skill that was such an essential part of ship construction during the era of the sailing navy.
The project, which has been supported by the European Social Fund in Karlskrona, received the Municipality of Karlskrona World Heritage award 2005 for its work with the Lindholmen rope walk.


Rope Walk reopening

The newly restored rope walk is reopened since the summer of 2006. Here the public will be able both to see and take part in the various stages of rope making.
In addition, there will be a video film showing traditional rope making,
a comprehensive exhibition of rope making and a small Museum Shop.
Refreshments will also be available.
Future plans for the Lindholmen Rope Walk will include a sail loft
which will be able to mend, or make, sails for both historic sailing vessels
and other small craft.