The loft storehouse

The loft storehouse is one of Hägnan’s oldest buildings. It's originally from Kukkasjärvi village and it may have been built as early as the late 17th century, but is most likely from the beginning of the 18th Century.

A loft storehouse is a log storehouse built on two storeys with a gateway shed. Normally the loft store was used to keep finer things, and in summer the people of the farm could sleep there. The building type was developed during the Middle Ages. A characteristic feature is that the upper storey is slightly retracted to make a gallery. The gallery leads to the storage rooms, which are often windowless.

The loft store with its gateway shed was the entrance to the farm and a relic of the time when people closed off the corners of the farm with houses or fences to keep children and livestock in and to keep vagabonds and beasts of prey out.

In the 18th Century, the enclosed farmyard went out of fashion and the farmyard was opened up. Thus, loft storehouses fell out of fashion and were allowed to fall into disrepair. Today there are only a few buildings with gateway sheds left in Norrbotten.