Brålanda is a small locality in Vänersborg Municipality, on the Dalsland side of Lake Vänern's southern shore. Farmland and forest close in around a scatter of villages here, Sundals-Ryr among them, where Bronze Age rock carvings sit unguarded at the edge of a field and farm shops trade in local meat, waffles and ice cream.
Sights & Culture
Rock carving L1964:4818
The rock carvings at Evenstorp, in Sundals-Ryr parish near Vänersborg (Fornsök L1964:4818), are Bronze Age art rather than anything Norse, pecked into a low granite outcrop at the edge of a field somewhere between three and a half and two and a half thousand years ago. The heritage authority has picked the figures out in red paint, which is honest enough as a way of making them visible but does lend the panels a slightly colouring-book quality up close. You get the usual southern Scandinavian repertoire: comb-toothed ships read as cult vessels, crossed circles taken for the sun, concentric spirals, cup marks, and rows of small striding figures. The set piece is a larger figure with its arms flung up towards a spoked disc above its head, captioned on the board as a worshipper, though the sign is refreshingly candid that nobody actually knows what any of it meant. It is a modest site rather than a Tanum, no visitor centre and no fuss, but the carvings are dense and well preserved, and having them sitting unguarded at the margin of a working field is part of the appeal.
Shoppping
Evenstorps gård
A cute cafe and farm shop, selling local meats in particular as well as waffles, ice cream and lunch. Kid and dog friendly.