The Sami turf house church in Staloluokta, Sweden.

 
   
     
 

 

This is a traditional Sami (people of northern Scandinavia) turf building known in Sweden as a Goahti. The same architecture in Norway it called a Gamme. This particular Goahti is the church in Staloluokta, possibly the only one of its kind. Staloluokta is an Sami mountain camp named after the Sami spirit Stalo, a giant that steals reindeer. The second part of the name 'luokta' means 'bay' (see below).

   
       

Staloluokta is close to the Norwegian border and is home to around fifty people during the summer months. In both Norway and Sweden you can stay in these traditional Sami homes, sleeping on reindeer skins warmed by an open stone circle fire (see below), while you attend a workshop in Sami crafts, known as duodji.

 
       
 
     

 

 
 
   
 

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