The Maiden Tower (Jungfrutornet in Swedish) was erected during the 15th century to improve the town's defenses against attackers coming from the sea. The name comes from the legend of the daughter of Nils Guldsmed from Unghanse was immured in the wall as punishment for betraying the town by letting King Valdemar IV of Denmark and his Danish troops into Visby during the campaign of 1361. 

Valdemar traveled over to Gotland before the invasion, alone and dressed as a merchant to spy. Then he came into contact with a farmer named Nils Guldsmed in Unghanse. This man had a young fair daughter who pleased Valdemar. When Valdemar then came to Gotland with his army and plundered Gotland, the girl let a white cloth float over Unghanse's farm, which was thereby spared. It is also said that the girl got into the city and at night smuggled out keys to the city gates, so that Valdemar could get into the city. Eventually it dawned on the Guts that they had a traitor among their countrymen, and the maiden Unghanse was captured. As punishment for her betrayal, she was walled up alive in the tower that was later named the Maiden's Tower. Considering Valdemar's intimate relations with the daughter and the fact that he was "fabulous after women's hours", there is good reason to question whether the poor girl was really a virgin when she suffered her harsh punishment.

Recent research however suggests that the legend is only a legend because the tower did not exist at that time. It is more likely that the name derives from a unit of measurement known as the jungfru (8.2 centiliters).

Photo: W.carter