Mårbacka
Sunne · Sweden
Mårbacka is the estate in the Värmland region of Sweden that was the birthplace and lifelong home of Selma Lagerlöf, Sweden's first Nobel Laureate in Literature and the first woman to win the prize. Lagerlöf was born here in 1858, lost the estate through her family's financial difficulties, repurchased it with the royalties from The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, and spent the last decades of her life rebuilding and gardening. She died here in 1940.
The estate is particularly notable for Lagerlöf's combination of literary and agricultural achievement: the house she restored, the gardens she planted, and the farming operations she ran with real practicality sit alongside the rooms where she wrote. The influence of the Värmland landscape — its forests, its lakes, its folklorish traditions — that permeates all her fiction is immediately comprehensible here.
Visiting Mårbacka is best in summer, when the estate and its lake setting are at their most beautiful. Allow a full afternoon for the house and grounds, and if possible take the boat across Lake Fryken.
Reviews
The most atmospheric literary pilgrimage I have made in Sweden. Mårbacka in summer — the lakes, the forests, the gardens Lagerlöf herself planted — is simply beautiful. Allow a whole day.
An extraordinary place. The house is beautifully maintained and the story of Lagerlöf buying back the estate she lost as a child with her Nobel royalties is deeply moving. Essential for literary travellers.
Visited on a golden September afternoon and it was magnificent. The house is full of Lagerlöf's personality and the grounds are lovely. A little remote, but absolutely worth the journey.
The most atmospheric literary pilgrimage I have made in Sweden. Mårbacka in summer — the lakes, the forests, the gardens Lagerlöf herself planted — is simply beautiful. Allow a whole day.
