Gothenburg

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Gothenburg

	City arms
	[57° 42´ N, 11° 55´ E]
	Charter	1621
	Municipality	Göteborg Municipality
	County	Västra Götaland County
	Province	Västergötland, Bohuslän
	Population	485,000

Gothenburg (Swedish: [Göteborg] ([Media helphelp]·[info])) /ˌjœte'bɔrj/) is a city and municipality in the province Västergötland on the west-coast of Sweden. As of 2005, the population amounted to 485,000 in the actual city and 879,000 in the metropolitan area making it the second largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm. Gothenburg is the largest university city in Scandinavia with some 60,000 students.

The city is situated where the Göta Älv discharges into the Kattegat; the River divides the city in two halfs: the upper part located on the island Hisingen. The inlet of Göta Älv is well suited for a harbour, and Gothenburg has expanded its port into becoming the largest among the Nordic countries.

Name

History

Further information: History of Gothenburg

Gothenburg's location around 1600. (Denmark yellow, Norway brown).

In the 16th and 17th century, the situation of Sweden's borders made it strategically important to have an outpost on the west coast the exposed area in between rivalling countries Denmark and Norway. After some initial failed attempts, Gothenburg was successfully founded in 1621, by King Gustavus Adolphus (Gustaf II Adolf). The coat of arms was based on the lion of the coat of arms of Sweden, symbolically holding a shield with the national emblem, the Three Crowns, to defend against its enemies.

In 1658 and the Treaty of Roskilde, the Danish and Norwegian provinces (Halland, south, and Bohus County or Bohuslän, north), became Swedish, and with a less exposed position, Gothenburg was able to grow into an important port and trade centre on the west coast.

The architectural structure was made by contracted Dutch town planners hired by the Swedish king, and the blueprint for the canals of Gothenburg are actually the same as those used for Jakarta.

In the 18th century, the most important industry was the fishing industry. However, in 1731 the Swedish East India Company was founded, and the city flourished due to its foreign trades with highly profitable commercial expeditions to Asian countries.

The harbour developed into Sweden's main harbour for trades towards the west and with the Swedish emigration to North America increasing, Gothenburg became Sweden's main point of exit. The importance of Gothenburg as a main port of exit for Swedish emigrants is apparent in the naming of Gothenburg, Nebraska a small Swedish settlement in the United States.

With the 19th century, Gothenburg evolved into a modern industrial city that continued on into the 20th century. The population increased ten-folt in the century, from 13,000 (1800) to 130,000 (1900). In the 20th century major companies that developed were SKF (est. 1907) and Volvo (est. 1926).

In more recent years however, the industrial section has faced a recession, which has spurned the development of new sectors such as increased merchandice and cultural and educational institutions.

Governance

Further information: Gothenburg Municipality

Boroughs

Further information: Boroughs and Districts of Gothenburg

Boroughs

Askim Backa Bergsjön Biskopsgården Centre Frölunda Gunnared

Härlanda Högsbo Kortedala Kärra-Rödbo Linnéstaden Lundby Lärjedalen

Majorna Styrsö Torslanda Tuve-Säve Tynnered Älvsborg Örgryte

Politics

Geography

Centralstationen, Gothenburg Central Station.

Gothenburg School of Economics and Commercial Law.

Main article: Geography of Gothenburg

Situated on the western coast by Kattegatt, an arm of the North Sea, at the outlet of the river Göta älv and the Göta Canal. Due to the Gulf Stream the city has a mild climate and quite a lot of rain. The archipelago of Gothenburg consists of rough, barren rocks and cliffs, which also is typical for the coast of Bohus County.

The Gothenburg Metropolitan Area extends to the municipalities of Ale, Härryda, Kungälv, Lerum, Mölndal, Partille, Stenungsund, Tjörn, Öckerö in Västra Götaland County and Kungsbacka in Halland County.

Transportation

Gothenburg is a logistic centre, with transports by train and truck from Sweden and Norway to Gothenburg harbour which is by far the largest port in Scandinavia with a cargo turnover of 36.9 million tonnes a year (2004)Statistics from the homepage of the Port of Gothenburg, www.portgot.com.

With over 150 km the Gothenburg tram is the largest tram/light rail network in Northern Europe.

Demographics

Economy

The blue collar industries dominated until the late 1980s when shipyards started to shut down. Today the town has a mix of hi tech industries with Volvo Cars being the largest employer and a number of smaller computer software vendors.

Education

The are two universities in Gothenburg: Gothenburg University and the Chalmers University of Technology. They were both initiated in the 19th century as university colleges on private donations. Today there are more than 60,000 students, which makes Gothenburg the largest university city in Scandinavia.

The Gothenburg University contains such faculties as:

• Gothenburg School of Economics and Commercial Law
• Sahlgrenska University Hospital (both hospital and medical school)
• The Valand Academy of Art

• Chalmers Lindholmen University College
• IT University of Göteborg

Gothenburg has some 25-30 gymnasiums. Some of more notable are Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet, founded in 1647, the Christian-oriented LM Engströms gymnasium and the Sigrid Rudebecks gymnasium, established in 1869.

Sister cities

• Twin towns
• *

- Bergen, Norway

• Sister cities
• *

Culture

Poseidon by Carl Milles -- an often used symbol of Gothenburg.

The sea, trade and industrial history of the city is evident in the cultural life of Gothenburg. The biggest attraction in the city is the amusement park Liseberg (see Sites of interest), an institution that was largely built because the workers should have something to do on their spare time, except to drink liquor. Another fact related to the industrial heritage of the city is that many of the cultural institutions, as well as hospitals and the university, were created thanks to donations from rich merchants and industrialists, for example the Röhss Museum.

The 1923 Gothenburg Industrial Exhibition saw the creation of the art museum and a number of other institutions. The event culture of the city was an important factor behind the creation of a number of other sport and cultural institutions.

Gothenburg has a rich music life - the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra is the best known when it comes to classical music. Bands like Soundtrack of Our Lives and Ace of Base are well known pop representatives of the city. The city is also noted for being the centre of the melodic death metal movement(sometimes even called "The Gothenberg sound"), a typically Swedish musical style, being home to such internationally known bands as At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity, The Haunted, In Flames, Soilwork, and Arch Enemy. It is also a pop music center in Sweden, with an active indie scene.

There are many free theatre ensembles in the city, besides institutions like Gothenburg City Theatre, Backa Theatre (youth theatre) and Folkteatern.

The Gothenburg Film Festival, held each year, is the biggest film festival in Scandinavia.

Architecture

Layers of architecture on Masthugget hill in Gothenburg; 19th century houses at the bottom, Brutalistic modernist houses in the middle and older Landshövdingehus at the top.

There are very few houses left from the 17th century when the city was founded, since all but the military and royal houses were built of woodNationalencyklopedin (NE), The Swedish National Encyclopedia (Most of this section is based on NE) . One example is Skansen Crown. Instead the first major architectural interesting period is the 18th century when the East India Company made Gothenburg an important trade city. Imposing stone houses with a Classical look are erected around the canals. One example from this period is the East India House, which today houses Gothenburg’s City Museum.

In the 19th century the first important town plan after the founding of city was created, which led to the construction of the main street Kungsportsavenyn. The perhaps most significant type of houses of the city, Landshövdingehusen, were built in the end of the 19th century; three story-houses with the first floor in stone and the other two in wood.

A very important period in the architectural history of the city was the early 20th century, when the National Romantic style dominated. Among the many monumental building erected the Masthugget Church can be mentioned.

And in the beginning of the 1920s, when the city celebrated its 300th anniversary, the Götaplatsen square with its Neo-Classical look was built.

After this the predominant style in Gothenburg and rest of Sweden was Functionalism which especially dominated the suburbs like Västra Frölunda and Bergsjön. In the 1950s the big stadium Ullevi was erected when Sweden hosted the 1958 World Cup in football.

The modern architecture of the city are being formed by such architects as Gert Wingårdh who started as a Post-Modernist in the 1980s.

Food and drink

Gothenburg is perhaps the city with the highest concentration of cafés and coffee shops in Sweden; with a large group of students in the city centre and a long tradition of more traditional cafés the number of establishments exploded in the 1990s.

There are also a large number of pubs, bars and discotheques – for example at the main street Kungsportsavenyn.

Sports

Held events

• 1992 European Football Championship
• 1993 World Men's Handball Championship
• 1993 World Championships in Table tennis
• 1995 World Championships in Athletics
• 1997 World Championships in Swimming (Short track)
• 1997 Davis Cup Finals, Tennis, Sweden-United States
• 1997 World Championships in Latin American Dance
• 1998 World Championships in Latin Formation Dancing
• 1999 European Championships in Athletics (20-22 year olds)
• 2002 European Men's Handball Championship
• 2002 Ice Hockey World Championships
• 2002 Volvo Ocean Race
• 2003 World Championships in Skating (allround)
• 2004 O-Ringen - A 5-days orienteering competition
• 2004 World Championships in Skating (short track)
• 2004 UEFA Cup Final

Annual events

The Ullevi Arena in central Gothenburg

• Gothia Cup

Planned events

• 2006 European Championships in Athletics
• 2008 World Figure Skating Championships

• Scandinavium (ice hockey)
• Gamla Ullevi (football)
• Ullevi (multisport)

• Frölunda HC (ice hockey)
• GAIS (football)
• IFK Göteborg (football)
• BK Häcken (football)
• Qviding FIF (football)
• Örgryte IS (football)

Sites of interest

Relax in Slottskogen park

Gothenburg has a wide selection of cultural establishments worth seeing. A new opera house was inaugurated in 1994, the Gothenburg Opera. Museums include art (Gothenburg Museum of Art) and (Göteborgs Konsthall), design and handcrafts (the Röhss Museum), sea history, natural history, science, East India, and the Museum of World Culture [link] inaugurated in 2004.

Kungsportsavenyn, commonly known as just Avenyn, "The Avenue", is the main boulevard. It was created in the 1860s and 1870s as a result of an international town planning competitionGuide till Sveriges arkitektur, red. Waern, Caldenby, Arkitektur förlag. With a total length of about two kilometers, it stretches from the old moat at the edge of the older part of Gothenburg, and ends at the Götaplatsen square, where the Gothenburg Museum of Art and several other cultural institutions are located. Avenyn passes the Stora teatern, a Neo-Renaissance theatre and opera building from 1859, and has a major concentration of pubs, discoteques and restaurants.

The Göteborg Botanical Garden [link] is considered to be one of the most outstanding botanical gardens in Europe.

Just across Dag Hammarskjöldsleden is Gothenburg's largest park, Slottskogen, where you can visit Gothenburg's Natural History Museum (Naturhistoriska Museet), a tropical animal park (Tropikhuset), a children's zoo (Barnens Zoo), and a family animal park (Djurgårdarna). The park is also home to the city's oldest observatory, but if you prefer, it's a perfect place for sun-bathing, picnicking, or taking a relaxing stroll through Gothenburg's shady forests.

The amusement park Liseberg located in the central part of the city, is the largest in Scandinavia, and the most popular attraction in Sweden by number of visitors per year (>3 millions). Next to Liseberg is the science discovery centre Universeum.

The central city and the harbour can be viewed from the The Gothenburg Lookout.

One of Gothenburg's most popular tourist attraction is the archipelago (Southern Gothenburg Archipelago), which can be reached by boat. Älvsborg Fortress, Vinga and Styrsö islands are popular places to visit.

Image gallery

See also

• East Indiaman Götheborg
• Protests during the EU summit in Gothenburg 2001
• Metropolitan Gothenburg
• List of people connected to Gothenburg

External links

• from Wikitravel
• [Gothenburg & Co.] - Official Tourist site
• [Gothenburg] - Official City site
• [Gothenburg Botanic Garden] - Official site
• [Hotels in Gothenburg]
• [Photos from Gothenburg]
• [Photos from Gothenburg Archipelago]
• [Architecture in Gothenburg] - Pdf-guide in English
• [Urban Planning of Gothenburg] - Pdf-guide in English

Notes

Gothenburg is one of 134 towns with the historical City status in Sweden.