Sami Camps
When the open-air museum Gammlia was just in its planning stages at the end of the 1910s, a decision was made to highlight Sami cultural heritage of the area. But it would take 90 years before this ambition was realized. The open-air museum now has three Sami camps built based on existing camps in Västerbotten: South Sami, Forest Sami, and North Sami.
In previous times, reindeer herding Sami required these camps since they followed the reindeer as they migrated from the moun- tains to the coast. The traditional Sami hut has nearly fallen into complete disuse since the first half of the 20th century.
Today’s reindeer herders mostly have permanent housing, thanks in large part to modern technologies for transportation and moving reindeer. Some of the few camps still found in the county are preserved on site and instead of moving them to Gammlia, it was decided to build new ones based on older examples and with traditional methods.
The buildings at the Sami camp area were built within the EU project “The Northern Cultural Traditions” 2008–2011. In March 2011, the entire area was inaugurated.
