Church boats at Lake Siljan in the late 19th century

Church boats at Lake Siljan in Dalarna.

In the late 19th century people in Dalarna still used this kind of boats to take them to the weekly Sunday church service. This is an old black and white photo coloured by me.

The ladies from Dalecarlia

The young ladies of the historical province of Dalecarlia (Dalarna in Swedish) were famous for their love of independence - and beauty - already in the 1890s:

Two young ladies from Dalecarlia, dressed in Rättvik costumes. (About 1890)

A young lady dressed in the Rättvik winter costume. (About 1890)

The church boats of lake Siljan

Dalarna - particularly the lake Siljan region - in central Sweden is famous for the church boats.
Since the road network was very poor in the 19th and early 20th centuries, people had to use boats in order to get to their local church.  Around the year 1850, Leksand had about 60 church boats of the type shown on these photographs. The biggest boats had up to 12 pairs of oars. 

Church boat on lake Siljan in the 1890s.

Sunday morning in Leksand in the late 19th century.