Wallander's Ystad keeps centuries-old watchman tradition alive

Record ID: 2360571

  • Title: Wallander's Ystad keeps centuries-old watchman tradition alive
  • Date: 2nd March 2026
  • Summary: YSTAD, SWEDEN (FEBRUARY 27, 2026) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LARS PERSSON, PENSIONER AND ONE OF YSTAD'S NIGHTWATCHMEN, WALKING THROUGH THE OLD TOWN TO THE CHURCH PERSSON WALKING INTO SANKTA MARIA CHURCH VARIOUS OF PERSSON CLIMBING THE STEPS OF THE CHURCH TOWER   PERSSON WALKING UP STAIRS INTO THE TOWER WHERE HE CARRIES OUT THE WATCH VARIOUS OF PERSSON BLOWING HORN THROUGH ONE OF
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Skane Sweden Wallander Ystad fire horn nightwatchman tradition
  • Location: YSTAD, SWEDEN
  • City: YSTAD, SWEDEN
  • Country: Sweden
  • Topics: Europe,Human-Led Quirky,Human-Led Stories
  • Reuters ID: LVA001941928022026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The town of Ystad in southern Sweden, famous as the setting for the fictional detective Kurt Wallander, has kept a centuries-old tradition of keeping a night watch from the tower of its main church.
    Every night from 9 p.m. until midnight, one of four watchmen climbs the tower of the Santa Maria church in Ystad’s picturesque old town to look out over the town.
    Every 15 minutes the watchman blows a horn from each of the four tiny windows in the tower to signify that everything is calm and that no fire has been spotted.
    The tradition was once common across all of Sweden, said Lars Persson, a pensioner who has been one of the watchmen for 25 years, but it died out in most towns around the early 20th century.
    Persson was offered the job when he took a group of students to visit the then-watchman for a course he was running. The watchman asked if he would like to take over and although surprised, he accepted after talking it over with his family.
    “It's special, you're alone, but time goes by quickly, especially in the summer, when it's warm, it's sunny, there are people out in the streets,” he said.
    The blast from the long brass horn was clearly audible in the cobbled streets of Ystad’s old town.
    Ystad became known to thriller fans around the world as the setting of late Swedish writer Henning Mankell’s novels about the gruff detective Kurt Wallander.
    (Production: Tom Little)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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