Artwork: Rydaholms aln

The granite and concrete sculpture was made by Joanna Troikowicz, originally from Poland, who has lived and worked in Sweden since 1977. She works from small forms, such as plaques and medals, up to monumental sculptures for public environments, as well as doing drawings and paintings.

Joanna Troikowicz has a long history in education, including at the Academy of Fine Arts, Konstfack (University of Arts, Crafts and Design) and KTH School of Architecture in Stockholm, and has also studied pedagogy and worked as a teacher.

‘Aln’ means underarm and is an old measure of length equal to 2 feet or 0.59 metre. The most famous aln in Sweden is the ‘Rydaholmsaln’, referenced as far back as the 15th century; it was used as the standard measure in Småland and was kept in Rydaholm Church. Karl IX had a copy of the Rydaholmsaln made, and in 1605 it was hung in the Stockholm town hall as a so-called ‘national standard’. This was followed by more alns that were created and spread across the country until 1889. There is an iron replica of the ‘real’ aln in Rydaholm library. Rydaholm’s aln was purchased by the Municipality of Värnamo in 1991.