Helvetets portar - Holavedens urskogs naturreservat

In times gone by, the old Holaveden was a haven for robbers. They lay in ambush in the steep and rocky terrain and attacked stagecoaches and travelers on the roads. The wild and inaccessible forest was thus named "The Gates of Hell". The Holaveden primeval forest nature reserve gives visitors a glimpse of what the forests in the area may have looked like at the time of the stagecoach robberies.

Holavedens urskog is Jönköping County's first nature reserve, established in 1935. The reserve is located in Tranås municipality on a partly steep, blocky eastern slope. The entire Holaveden area stretches between Lake Sommen and Lake Vättern and across the Småland border to Östergötland. During the Seven Years' War in the 1560s, the forest was used as a barrier to the Danish army's retreat from its ravages in Östergötland.