Original subtitles

NARRATOR: This is Sweden

as it’s never been seen before.

From above, we'll reveal Europe's northern kingdom.

Here, the Swedish people have transformed their land

into a vibrant, industrious nation,

with a deep love of nature at its core

to form the beating heart of Scandinavia.

♪♪

In this series,

we’ll take an aerial tour across Europe,

filmed over the course of a single year.

And through the changing seasons.

We will uncover the culture,

history, and engineering

that built the great European nations we see today.

♪♪

NARRATOR: Sweden sits in northern Europe.

It’s bordered by Norway to the west and north,

and Finland to the east.

The country is home to over 10 million people.

Much of the Swedish population

is crammed into a network of towns and cities

in the south of the country.

Gothenburg, Malmö,

and Stockholm, the nation’s capital.

Outside these urban metropolises

lie vast expanses of wilderness

with soaring mountain ranges,

expansive forests,

and more islands than any other country in the world.

Here, as the seasons shift,

plunging temperatures beckon shortening days.

Deep blue waters transform into ice.

And dense green forests turn a brilliant white

as a blanket of snow

wraps itself tightly around the nation.

Winter has arrived.

The historic region of Lapland,

the home of Santa Claus,

sits just below the Arctic Circle,

in Sweden's far north.

It attracts three million tourists each year.

Stargazers flock here

during the endless winter nights

to catch a sight of the Northern Lights.

But in Sweden’s northern extremities,

there’s a community who not only look forward to winter,

but depend on it.

Sweden’s far north

is home to a chain of 4,000 islands,

called the Norrbotten Archipelago.

One island, Hinderson,

is home to just 12 people.

It’s one of Sweden’s most remote communities.

During summer and autumn,

residents on this isolated island

must travel seven kilometers by boat

to shop on the mainland.

But as October turns to November,

the islanders dust down their cars,

and prepare for a remarkable transformation.

As the deep waters around the island freeze,

the locals rush to construct a 15 kilometer long frozen highway,

called Hinderson's ice road.

Each year,

it rests on the shoulders of Rolf Persson

to corral the community together

to help build and maintain

this monumental feat of ice engineering.

ROLF PERRSON: When the ice road opens,

it’s a big day for all of us who live here. Everyone’s happy.

Now we can go by car into the city,

and everything is so much easier for us.

NARRATOR: From above,

there’s something odd about Hinderson's ice road.

You’d expect it to be a straight line,

but it must twist and curve to avoid hidden rocks,

and raised banks beneath the ice.

These obstacles create fast-flowing water,

which can wear away the underside of the road.

PERRSON: Water streams faster in those places,

which means that the ice gets eaten from below.

NARRATOR: After severe snow storms,

Rolf and the team must shut Hinderson's ice road

to clear snow from the surface,

which can insulate the ice and cause it to weaken.

PERRSON: I do feel a responsibility.

Many of us who live here want this ice road.

We must help each other as much as we can.

NARRATOR: Rolf and neighbor Anders

drill a test hole every 100 meters

along the freshly cleared road,

to check for any thinning ice.

The ice must be at least 30 centimeters thick

for cars to drive safely on it.

In extreme circumstances,

thin sections must be flooded with water,

which freezes to thicken the ice.

Anders checks the depth.

The ice is 76 centimeters.

The road here looks good today.

With the artery opened back up,

Rolf, Anders, and the island's other residents

can now make the quick journey to town

to pick up some much needed supplies.

PERRSON: If you want to build something,

or make flower beds and need some soil for your garden,

then the ice road makes everything so much easier.

NARRATOR: Rolf returns from his shopping trip.

In recent times,

many islanders have moved away to the city.

But Rolf hopes that the ice road

will encourage a new generation to move here,

to enjoy what he sees as the perfect lifestyle.

PERRSON: We very much want to open the island up

to other people. Now the ice road is open,

a heartfelt welcome to Hinderson.

NARRATOR: From Stockholm’s futuristic Ericsson Globe,

the largest hemispherical building in the world,

to Malmo’s Turning Torso,

the Swedish are masters of innovative engineering.

And hidden in one of the country’s great mountain ranges

is a mega-structure like no other.

That’s because each year, like a magic trick,

it disappears to nothing.

The mountainous Filialen region of Sweden

runs along its giant 1,600 kilometer border with Norway.

Here, 31 crystal clear rivers flow into the Baltic Sea.

In the north, the River Torne

produces one of the world’s strangest building materials.

These remote waters

are among the purest in Europe.

And in the depths of winter,

workers descend on the ice

to cut out huge blocks of it.

Amazingly, two and a half thousand of these

two-ton blocks of pure ice

are used as construction material

for a very special building.

It may not look like much from the outside,

but this single-story snow covered structure

is the world’s most luxurious ice hotel.

Guests can pay over 1,000 Euros a night

to stay in this frosted wonderland,

where each year. artists carve the ice to form beds,

chandeliers, a bar,

and even a wedding chapel.

This frozen marvel stays standing

during the four coldest months of the year.

But this novel construction material

has its limitations.

As spring creeps closer and the temperatures rise,

the once sturdy pillars that hold the building up

begin to bow.

NARRATOR: When the last guest leaves at the end of winter,

it’s the job of Joakim Enmalm

to prepare for one of the world's weirdest spectacles:

watching all 35 luxury bedrooms

melt away to nothing.

JOAKIM ENMALM: The hotel is melting,

and soon it will be very unsafe to be in here.

NARRATOR: Faced with the ice hotel melting,

Joakim and his team

must empty the hotel of potential hazards,

including any electronics,

and the 100 kilogram ice chandelier,

which, left unchecked,

would crash to the ground.

The chandelier is held in place by a winch,

frozen into the compacted snow super-structure.

The ice hotel is now

ready to face its fate.

ENMALM: Every year, we give back

what we have borrowed from the river.

It’s all part of the natural process,

and when it’s gone, it means we can do

another beautiful, completely new experience next year.

NARRATOR: By spring,

the frozen hotel has completely melted away,

and its walls, beds, and chapel

have gently flowed back into the River Torne.

Each year, as winter loosens its grip over the land,

Sweden’s vast landscapes undergo a remarkable transformation.

Expansive snow-capped forests

melt into deep green woodlands.

Sweden’s islands

escape from their frozen trappings of ice,

as azure waters surround them again.

And the country’s famous maritime industries

kick up a gear.

Spring has arrived.

The Swedish nation

has long held ties with the sea,

from the ninth century,

when Vikings projected power from the Baltic coast,

to World War II,

when Sweden’s navy steadfastly defended its shores.

Today, it’s container ships

filled with cars, steel, and timber,

that rule the waves.

Sweden’s vast coastline

is dotted with over 50 ports.

The biggest is Gothenburg,

but it’s a port with a problem.

Thousands of treacherous rocky islands

stand at the entrance to this port.

Navigating around them is a dangerous challenge

for the 11,000 ships that need to pass through each year.

NARRATOR: To stop the ships

from crashing into Gothenburg’s islands,

the port relies on an incredible network

of traditional lighthouses,

and mid-water beacons,

bolted to the sea bed.

Project manager Bill Söderberg

is responsible for keeping them in perfect running order.

BILL SÖDERBERG: In the approach to Gothenburg,

it’s very narrow, a lot of rocks.

The lighthouses are essential to avoid these hazardous rocks.

NARRATOR: Today, Bill has the mammoth task

of replacing one of Gothenburg’s most important beacons.

This 30 meter long monster beacon

used to sit tall on the seabed,

guarding shallows.

But it was damaged by a wayward ship,

and uprooted for repair.

A boat slowly pushes a floating platform

that holds the giant 36 ton beacon out to sea,

where a gargantuan crane awaits on a special lifting rig.

The rig has four legs that grip the seabed,

and hold the crane

within reaching distance of the beacon’s seabed base.

The boat pulls its precious cargo

alongside the rig.

Then, Bill’s team strap

the top of the lighthouse to the crane.

The crane slowly hauls the giant structure upright.

It’s a precarious dance between the crane and the boat

as they maneuver the lighthouse into place.

It must hover directly above the submerged base.

SÖDERBERG: The hardest part of the installation

is to get the alignment correct.

It's very important that it's right.

NARRATOR: As the beacon hits the sea,

Bill dispatches divers to lock it into place.

SÖDERBERG: The divers are essential here.

Without divers, no lighthouse.

NARRATOR: Deep in the dark, choppy waters,

the divers struggle to steer the structure into position.

There’s no margin for error,

handling almost 40 ton structures at these depths.

Any small mistake can be fatal.

SÖDERBERG: This is a dangerous environment,

but that is our job to avoid any hazards for the divers.

So, we work a lot of with procedures and preparations

to minimize the danger.

NARRATOR: It takes an hour of intense work

to secure each of the lighthouse’s 32 bolts

with hydraulic wrenches.

Above water, the team detach the lighthouse from the crane.

The beacon is finally back in its rightful place.

SÖDERBERG: It’s great to have

the lighthouse working again.

I know a lot of people that navigate in the fairway here,

and I’m sure they are happy that it’s back.

Even these days you have electronic charts, GPS,

lighthouses are still the fundamental of safe navigation.

NARRATOR: The beacon’s watch begins once again,

ready to guide wandering vessels to safety

for years to come.

In Stockholm,

its 1.6 million inhabitants

enjoy the snow-free streets, and warmer spring days.

This bustling metropolis

is famous as the home of ABBA,

modern Swedish gastronomy,

and as Scandinavia’s financial hub.

From above, we can see the city

is split across a number of islands.

The island of Gamla Stan is home to the city’s oldest buildings,

including one of the world’s most extraordinary homes.

This is Stockholm’s famous royal palace.

It’s the official residence of King Carl Gustaf

and his wife Queen Sylvia

of the Swedish royal family.

And it’s one of the largest

royal palaces in Europe,

with over 600 rooms.

Workers built this baroque masterpiece in 1760

to replace a medieval royal castle

that had burnt down in a devastating fire.

They used a pale sandstone,

exclusively sourced from the Swedish island of Gotland,

to give the palace its iconic, highly ornate look.

But Gotland sandstone is a relatively fragile rock

and now, parts of the royal residence

are so worn, they are falling away.

In 2011,

hundreds of specialists began a 40-year project

to restore the palace back to its former glory.

Sculptor Maria Hammerich

is responsible for repairing the palace’s opulent exterior.

MARIA HAMMERICH: This is the biggest job I've ever done.

I'm trying to replicate the building as it used to be,

a hundred percent. That’s the most important thing

when you’re working with restoration.

NARRATOR: Maria’s team are currently focusing on

the palace's intricately carved western façade.

Today, Maria has to restore a broken finger

on one of the statues.

She mixes different colors of specialist mortar

to perfectly match the shade of each piece of stone.

The painstaking work must be completed

one tiny piece at a time.

There are no detailed plans for the building left,

so Maria must put herself

in the shoes of the original stonemason.

HAMMERICH: When you place a sculpture very high,

you have to make the arm longer

and the hands bigger,

so when you are looking up at the sculpture,

it seems like the hands are the right size.

NARRATOR: Sweden’s royal roots

stretch back over a thousand years,

making it one of the oldest monarchies in the world.

Today, the king’s role is mostly symbolic.

But the Swedish royals are beloved by the nation,

with almost 70% of Swedes supporting the Crown.

Maria puts the finishing touches on the finger.

She must now let it set over the next two days

before she can see if her work seamlessly blends

with the old statue.

She and her team have already completed

one side of this giant building.

Tomorrow, she will continue her painstaking work

of restoring Sweden’s most iconic building.

HAMMERICH: The best part of my job

is when I really can feel that I’m

hitting the thought the old artist had

when he did the sculpture.

NARRATOR: As sunlight hours lengthen across the country,

the last days of spring bring a golden tide of flowers,

which burst into bloom across the rapeseed fields

of southern Sweden.

This yellow sea is a surefire sign.

Summer is nearly here.

Seventy percent of Sweden

is covered by a green sea of forest.

Summer is boom time

for timber logging in these woodlands,

where for every tree felled,

three are planted in its place.

Forestry is a vital part of Swedish industry,

worth 13 billion Euros in exports.

The timber is used for everything,

from paper, to fuel and construction.

But first, timber producers

must transport the felled trees

through the dense forests to market.

Sweden’s forests are located in its center,

but many of the timber yards and saw mills

are dotted along the coast.

To haul the timber around the country,

dozens of train lines run like arteries

into Sweden’s wooded heart.

A closer look

reveals the incredible scale of these operations.

This is the Ostkustbanan rail terminus

in Västernorrland County.

Instead of platforms and car parks,

this railway station is stacked high

with thousands of freshly sawn timber

from the surrounding forests.

Each year, workers here dispatch

over half a million tons of wood,

loaded on trains to timber yards and saw mills along the coast.

It takes a specialist train

of mega proportions, like this one, to do the job.

It’s over half a kilometer long,

with 22 giant carriages.

It’s due to depart at nightfall,

and it’s up to loading manager Christer Lövgren

to make sure it leaves on time.

CHRISTER LÖVGREN: We load up seven days a week,

and we have a timescale of six hours, with two machines.

NARRATOR: Incredibly,

it takes four full trains like this

to supply enough wood to keep the saw mill going

for just 24 hours.

Our aerial cameras

capture the giant grabs

heaving the timber into each carriage.

As big as the grabber machines are,

it still takes Christer three giant scoops

to fill up just one of the enormous wagons.

LÖVGREN: If you use the big machines,

often you, you wish they were a little bigger,

reached a little further and took a little more,

so you could do the job quicker.

NARRATOR: Two hours before departure,

the engine arrives.

This is no ordinary freight train.

It’s packing more power than ten Formula 1 cars.

Christer and his team

are losing daylight

by the time they load the final logs into the wagons.

As darkness descends,

the train driver gives the all clear.

The laden train snakes off into the night,

ready to supply the saw mill by dawn.

Soon, all this timber will be processed

and shipped around the world.

LÖVGREN: This operation is truly

at the heart of Swedish industry,

and is a big export.

And it’s a great feeling to be a part of that chain.

♪♪

NARRATOR: Swedes value their relationship with nature.

Over half of the population have access to a rural summer home.

But with around 270,000 islands

to escape to,

that provides a huge problem for Sweden’s civil engineers.

Over the past 50 years,

they’ve had to build 27 pioneering bridges

to connect its citizens with each other

and neighboring countries.

Perhaps the most extraordinary bridge

reaches out from Sweden’s southern coast,

at the city of Malmö.

Flying high over Sweden’s southern tip

reveals a strait of water 110 kilometers long,

separating the nation from its neighbor, Denmark.

A closer look reveals a bridge,

but it seems to stop four kilometers short of the Danish coast.

This is the Øresund Bridge,

Europe’s longest road and rail bridge.

Three-quarters sits above the water.

The final quarter dives dramatically

into an underwater tunnel.

This makes it easier for planes to land at Copenhagen airport,

and provides clear passage

for one of the world’s busiest shipping rigs.

This one of a kind mega-bridge

is 16 kilometers long,

with 82,000 tons

of concrete and steel.

Cars travel on top, and trains underneath.

But after 20 years,

the elements are beginning to take a dangerous toll

on Sweden’s mega-bridge.

It’s project manager Johan Nord’s job

to make sure the bridge is still standing in 100 years time.

JOHAN NORD: It's very important

that the bridge is preserved.

The corrosion could be a problem for the bridge.

If the corrosion grows,

it will make the bridge weaker over time.

NARRATOR: The solution to the corrosion

is surprisingly simple:

a fresh coat of paint.

But working on this bridge

is still a huge challenge.

Our aerial cameras

reveal the remarkable solution:

a moving platform that clings to the side of the super-structure.

The bridge is made of 20 meter-wide steel trusses.

The painting platform hangs from the roadway,

to cover one truss at a time,

and can slide sideways to travel the length of the bridge.

NORD: Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.

We can feel the trains go by every time.

They are running about 180 kilometers

passing the platform, when we’re working.

At first, it’s scary when the train passes,

but eventually you get used to it.

NARRATOR: Braced between speeding trains

and a 55 meter drop,

the team begin to paint.

But with one truss taking

a whole week to paint,

the full job is projected

to take a whopping 12 years to complete,

after which, it will soon be time to start all over again.

NORD: The scale of the task

can feel overwhelming some days, yes.

But also, it feels very special

to be a part of a big and important project.

Also, there is a lot of joy,

seeing the platforms work,

seeing the progress of the painting.

So, I’m a very proud project worker here.

NARRATOR: Since ancient times,

the Swedes have celebrated the longest days of the year

with a midsummer festival.

To this day, people of all ages

enjoy wearing crowns of flowers

and dancing around the maypole.

In Sweden’s north,

near the Arctic Circle,

the sun can spend over three months

without disappearing below the horizon.

During these midsummer days,

Sweden’s uninhabited forests burst into life.

Dalarna County, at the heart of the nation,

is home to many of Sweden’s

archetypal landscapes and cultures.

So much so, it’s been called the Sweden of Sweden.

Vast dark forests, hidden lakes,

and open fells dominate the landscape.

But look hard enough

and you can find ancient wooden buildings

nestled among the trees.

These are fair bude cottages,

centuries old farmers’ shacks, re-purposed as summer homes.

And they provide a perfect base for a popular Swedish past-time:

foraging for wild foods.

Aina Persson’s cottage has been in her family

since the 18th century.

♪♪

NARRATOR: Today, she’s come to forage

the surrounding woods for wild food,

just as she did as a little girl.

AINA PERSSON: It’s so nice to be in the forest

and pick berries and mushrooms.

It feels so natural.

That’s how it should be, instead of walking into a store.

NARRATOR: Aina’s on the hunt for something special.

She’s after one of Sweden’s

most cherished wild fruits,

the Arctic cloud berry,

also known as Highland Gold.

♪♪

PERSSON: It can’t be frosty when they bloom,

and there has to be just the right amount

of moisture in the ground.

Cloud berries are very particular.

That’s why some years, there are none.

NARRATOR: Aina is walking in the footsteps of her ancestors.

Since the Middle Ages,

the right to roam freely in Sweden’s forests

has been deeply entrenched in Swedish law.

Finally, she comes to her secret glade,

and begins her hunt for the cloud berries.

Aina’s in luck.

This year, the cloud berry bushes are laden with golden fruit,

which look like tiny yellow raspberries.

PERSSON: You can’t just walk into the forest

and find cloud berries.

You have to walk many miles and search and search.

Many people are very secretive about their cloud berry mires.

Oh, no, they won’t reveal them to a lot of people.

NARRATOR: Four hours later,

Aina’s baskets are brimming with cloud berries.

She returns to the cottage

to enjoy today’s spoils with her family.

They eat the cloud berries with cream and honey.

It’s a traditional scene, unchanged in centuries.

PERSSON: Nature is almost like a religion

for Swedes.

I’ve had some of my strongest spiritual experiences in nature.

♪♪

NARRATOR: Not far from Aina’s cottage,

tiny red houses pepper the landscape.

As the months shift and temperatures begin to drop,

the trees around them burst into color

and the bright red houses

blend into the forests that surround them.

Autumn has arrived.

Flying high over Scandinavia’s autumnal landscape,

stone shapes appear across the terrain.

Who made these mysterious vast symbols,

and why?

A clue lies in Sweden’s distant past.

15,000 years ago,

Sweden was entirely covered in ice,

but as the Ice Age receded,

the province of Skåne was the first to warm,

and humans moved in.

Over millennia,

they left their incredible mark on the land.

Our unique aerial view

reveals one of Sweden’s most precious ancient treasures.

And it’s a sight best seen from above.

These are the Ale’s stones,

a series of 59 huge boulders,

weighing up to five tons each,

and laid out in very precise formation.

The stones are shaped like the hull of a boat,

with pointed bow and stern

joined by sweeping port and starboard.

These megaliths have been here

since at least 600 AD,

and are shrouded in mystery.

Who put them here?

Historian Thomas Småberg

has devoted his life to investigating

the secrets of Sweden’s ancient past.

THOMAS SMÅBERG: When it comes to the Ale's Stones,

there’s actually quite a bit we don’t know

about the stones themselves.

We don’t know who built this monument.

We don’t know for whom it was built.

We don’t know the function.

NARRATOR: The Ale’s Stones humongous scale

is telling.

The person or group that had them built

would have needed considerable wealth and status.

Perhaps a chieftain or a decorated warrior.

But why?

SMÅBERG: When you look in Scandinavia,

ships as symbols have deep significant meaning.

NARRATOR: Norse mythology depicts a boat

which carried the dead to the afterlife.

So could this monument have been an ancient burial site?

SMÅBERG: When it comes to the link

between burials and these ship settings,

it’s a bit problematic.

A few of them doesn’t contain anything

that can be tied to a burial,

such as a cremation urn.

NARRATOR: If it’s not a burial site,

what else could it have been?

The Ale’s Stones are often called

Sweden’s Stonehenge.

So, could they be a celestial timepiece,

like their UK counterpart?

Thomas doesn’t think so.

SMÅBERG: While the solar calendar idea

is fascinating,

it is also a very modern construction.

It deals with the modern person’s

absolute obsession with time.

Men and women in the past,

they had a very different perception of time.

NARRATOR: The mystery of the Ale’s Stones

remains unsolved to this day.

But what is clear

is that the people who built these stone ships

had a deep reverence for the ocean,

and went to great lengths to show it.

It’s not only Sweden’s vast countryside

that bursts into autumnal shades.

Sweden’s city parks

also paint the urban areas orange

as the cooler months beckon.

These urban environments are the inspiration

for one of Sweden’s most famous exports,

which has revolutionized interior design

across the world.

In one Swedish city,

the concept of flat pack construction

has been taken to extremes.

Sweden’s largest and most populated cities,

Gothenburg, Malmo, and Stockholm,

are clustered in the south of the country.

But over 600 kilometers north of the capital,

a new urban hub is developing,

in the expanding city of Skelleftea.

And it’ll soon be home

to a record-breaking new building.

This is the construction site

of Skelleftea’s most ambitious building project ever,

a vast new arts center that will tower over the city.

But it’s a project with a difference.

Instead of using mainly steel and concrete,

this pioneering skyscraper

will be made almost entirely from locally sourced wood.

When it’s finished,

it will be the nation’s tallest wooden framed structure.

Mike Thorsen oversees the installation

of every piece of timber and bolt

on this cutting edge construction.

MIKE THORSEN: Absolutely amazing to figure out

things that haven’t been done before.

Just on a daily basis have to deal with these problems,

and come up with a solution to how we fix it.

NARRATOR: Skelleftea’s wooden mega-building

is called the Sara Culture House.

It will comprise a theater,

art gallery, library and museum.

A hotel will be housed

in the wooden skyscraper,

which will reach a final height of 73 meters.

This timber skeleton

will be encased in structural glass cladding.

Mike’s team are currently constructing

the 20-story skyscraper

that will loom over the main building.

Incredibly, in just five months,

they’ve already completed eight full floors.

♪♪

NARRATOR: This speedy construction is only possible

because this entire soaring tower is constructed

from prefabricated wooden units.

The modules arrive safely on site,

complete with internal walls, floors,

doors, and even windows.

THORSEN: If you use modules to mount,

we can prefabricate them

before we get them to the construction site

so that we mount them in a couple of hours,

instead of months, maybe up to a year.

NARRATOR: All Mike has to do

is lift it into place.

But that’s no easy task on such a tight urban site.

Our unique aerial view

shows the millimeter precision the crane operator needs.

Wood has a tendency to swell and shrink,

and requires a little helping hand to fit into position.

With the module safely in place,

the team can start securing it to the structure.

Mike and the team have 12 more floors to build.

But, with their pioneering construction method,

they hope to have the entire structure

erected by next autumn.

THORSEN: It will stand for a long time

and we really show the world that it’s possible

to build a high-rise building

from an environmental perspective.

Pure wood. Sustainable. It’s perfect.

NARRATOR: Sweden is a land of breathtaking contrasts,

where endless sunshine

reigns over mysterious ancient symbols

and fairytale forests,

which have inspired folklore and age old traditions,

alongside cutting edge technologies

and state of the art engineering

to create the great European nation

we see today.