A rainy day in Boden, or an overly warm one – not too uncommon during our subarctic summers – is perfect for a visit to Havremagasinet, which is one of Sweden’s largest art galleries, spanning 3,600 square metres over six floors.
Havremagasinet in Boden is a magnificent stone building towering over the birch alley, lining one of the roads entering Boden. On both sides there are more towering buildings, built in the characteristic style used when the military city of Boden was founded, to complement the Boden Fortress. “The Lock in the North”, which was to protect Sweden from an Eastern invasion. Back then, the cavalry was an important part of our armed forces and oats for the many horses in the Boden region were stored in Havremagasinet, literally The Oat Warehouse. Havremagasinet was designed with an impressive technological detail, to allow the oats to be transported from floor to floor.