Dag Hammarskjöld’s Backåkra: The Magic of the Place and the History of its Objects

Dag Hammarskjöld is perhaps among those Swedes who have made the greatest impression on the world. Before moving to New York to take up his post at the United Nations, Dag was invited to the summer home of his good friend Bo Beskow. He was very taken with the Skåne countryside and in 1957 he purchased the nineteenth-century farmstead Backåkra, east of Ystad, with the intention of settling there once his term of office at the UN ended.

On Dag Hammarskjöld s tragic death in Africa on September, 1961, his farm was bequeathed to the Swedish Tourist Association(STF) and Swedish Academy. Furniture, artworks and personal belongings from his New York apartment were brought toBackåkra, where they remain to this day. The farm is now run as a museum dedicated to Dag Hammarskjöld s life and accomplishments.

The book Dag Hammarskjöld s Backåkra: The Magic of the Place and the History of its Objects spans over a hundred and fifty years, from the construction of the farm in the mid-nineteenth century to its present-day role as an international meeting place and nature experience. It offers a glimpse into a previously undocumented part of Dag Hammarskjöld s life.