 The gate to the reserve is indicated on the museum map as a "border gate" between Sweden and the reserve.Buildings in the reserve are built or rebuilt by staff and volunteers almost every season, with traditional methods being supplemented by modern technology in winter; there were about 22, including a tapestry-lined chieftain's house and a hof.The reserve opens for the summer season on May Day, and is intended as a recreation of a large settlement late in the Viking Age, during the transition to the Scandinavian Middle Ages and the increasing influence of Christianity in the North.