The Gammelstad Church Town began as a trading settlement, and became the focus of religious observances for farming communities in the region. Gammelstad is an exceptionally well preserved example of a Scandinavian church town. Such settlements are unique, because they were shaped by the religious and social needs of a regions inhabitants, rather than by economic and geographic forces.

The numerous wooden houses constructed around the church were only used on Sundays, and in conjunction with religious festivals as overnight housing for worshippers from the surrounding countryside, whose journeys involved travelling long distances in a harsh natural environment. Gammelstad's development into a church town instead of a mercantile town is a direct result of natural land upheaval which rendered the town harbor unusable by the 17th century, forcing citizens to relocate the community's commercial centre. The new settlement took the name of Luleå, while the earlier church site was renamed Gammelstad (Old Town). The relocation of the commercial centre preserved the unique settlement of Gammelstad, leaving it untouched by the later 19th-century industrialization of the region.[1]

Gammelstad's layout has been preserved in its entirety. The town plan grew organically over several centuries, consisting of radial approaches to the church, and roads circling the town centre along the sides of the hill. A wall with gates was built around the church, however the wall currently in place is a reconstruction. Development halted after the middle of the 17th century. In the modern day, very few Scandinavian church town settlements remain, and Gammelstad is the best preserved example of this form of settlement, and is therefore protected by UNESCO.[1]