Gislaved Municipality (''Gislaveds kommun'') is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Jönköping County Jönköping County ( sv, Jönköpings län) is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in Sept ...

in southern Sweden, with its seat located in the town

Gislaved Gislaved () is a locality and the seat of Gislaved Municipality, Jönköping County Jönköping County ( sv, Jönköpings län) is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötl ...

. The municipality was created in 1974, when Gislaved locality where amalgamated with the surrounding rural municipalities to form an entity of unitary type. There are seventeen original units making up the present municipality. Within Sweden, and as part of

Gnosjö region The Gnosjö region (Swedish: ''Gnosjöregionen'') consists of the four municipalities of Sweden Gislaved, Gnosjö, Vaggeryd and Värnamo in Jönköping County Jönköping County ( sv, Jönköpings län) is a county or '' län'' in southern ...

, it's regarded as being both cultural and industrially dominated.

History

The municipality has been inhabited for a long time, but without any significant

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

s. At the turn of the 19th century it contained some 700 inhabitants. By 1949 it was eligible to receive rights as a ''

köping ''Köping'' was a Swedish denomination for a market town since the Middle Ages, derived from the Old Norse word ''kaupang''. The designation was officially abolished with the municipal reform of 1971, when Sweden was subdivided into the Municip ...

'', comparable to town rights. A

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

was designed for the occasion, traditionally used by the cities of Sweden. When the

municipal reform The Municipal Reform Party was a local party allied to the parliamentary Conservative Party in the County of London. The party contested elections to both the London County Council and metropolitan borough councils of the county from 1906 to 1945 ...

was carried out in the 1970s, Gislaved adapted the still unused coat of arms as the municipal arms. The arms depict the insignia for a historical hostel nearby. There are 19 churches in the municipality, the oldest from 1350. In the small town of Burseryd is a church bell that is even older. Its inscription was made with the

Futhark Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialis ...

alphabet and reads in translation "The year Anno Domine 1238 was this bell made. Bero wrote the inscription".2: The Swedish translation at the webpage reads: "Året efter herrens födelse 1238 blev denna klocka gjord. Bero skrev skriften". It is today the second oldest church bell in Sweden.

Geography

There are six

nature reserves A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

in the municipality. Rare plants and animals include the provincial flower the

Twinflower ''Linnaea'' is a plant genus in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. Until 2013, the genus included a single species, ''Linnaea borealis''. In 2013, on the basis of molecular phylogenetic evidence, the genus was expanded to include species f ...

(Linnaea borealis), the only flower named after the botanist

Carl von Linné Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

. Lake

Bolmen Bolmen () is a lake in Småland, Sweden. Covering 184 km², and with a maximum depth of 37 m, it supplies a considerable part of Skåne with fresh water by means of an 82-km long tunnel, the Bolmen Water Tunnel, built during the 1970s a ...

lies in the south-east part of the municipality, with its main part in the

Ljungby Municipality Ljungby Municipality (''Ljungby kommun'') is a municipality in Kronoberg County, southern Sweden, where the town Ljungby is seat. In 1971 the ''City of Ljungby'' (1936-1970) was amalgamated with the rural municipalities surrounding it, thus creat ...

. It is the tenth largest lake in Sweden and offers fishing, canoeing and other nature activities. Gislaved used to have a large tire factory under the same name as the town but it has shut down.

Localities

There are eight

s (also called a Tätort or locality) in Gislaved Municipality. In the table the localities are listed according to the size of the population as of December 31, 2015. The municipal seat is in bold characters.

Politics

Municipal council

Mayors

List of Mayors

Timeline

Gislaved Municipality has for most of its history been governed by the centre-right parties, with the Centre Party heading the municipality from 1974 to 1991 and again since 2018. The Moderate Party headed the municipality from 1991 to 1994 and from 2006 to 2014 while the Social Democrats did so from 1994 to 2006 and again from 2014 to 2018. The Social Democrats have been the largest party in the council since its founding in 1974. Gislaved Municipality is currently governed by a minority coalition between the Centre Party, the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic lib ...

, the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

and the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. The coalition is led by

Carina Johansson Moonbabies is a Swedish duo formed in 1997 by vocalists, multi-instrumentalists, producers, and songwriters Ola Frick (Vocals, guitar and various instruments) and Carina Johansson (Vocals and keyboards). History Their earliest efforts recalled ...

from the Centre Party, who is also

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

since 1 January 2019, and Lars-Ove Bengtsson from the Centre Party who is President of the City Council. Marie Johansson from the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

heads the opposition.

Notable people

Locality within Gislaved Municipality in parentheses. A *

Olle Anderson Olov (or Olof) is a Swedish form of Olav/Olaf (disambiguation), Olaf, meaning "ancestor's descendant". A common short form of the name is ''Olle''. The name may refer to: *Per-Olov Ahrén (1926–2004), Swedish clergyman, bishop of Lund from 198 ...

(Gislaved) * Ann-Charlotte Alverfors, author (Reftele) B * Darijan Bojanic, professional footballer (Gislaved) *

Johan Büser Johan Ulf Tobias Büser (born 1983) is a Swedish politician and member of the Riksdag, the national legislature. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he has represented Gothenburg Municipality since September 2014. Büser is the son of too ...

, politician (Anderstorp) D *

Lars Danielsson Lars Danielsson (born 5 September 1958) is a Swedish jazz bassist, composer, and record producer. Biography Danielsson was born in Smålandsstenar, and was educated at the music conservatory in Gothenburg. He plays double bass, electric bass ...

, bassist, composer, and record producer (Smålandsstenar) F *

Samuel Fröler Per Samuel Fröler (born 24 March 1957) is a Swedish actor. His break-through was in the TV series Tre Kärlekar in 1989. He played the protagonist in the drama series ''Skärgårdsdoktorn'', and has also acted in several films. At the 28th Guldb ...

, actor (Reftele) H *

Oscar Hiljemark Oscar Karl Niclas Hiljemark (; born 28 June 1992) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Starting off his career with IF Elfsborg in 2010, he went on to represent PSV, Palermo, Genoa, Panathinaikos, and Dynamo ...

, professional footballer (Gislaved) *

Simon Hjalmarsson Mats Simon Hjalmarsson (born February 1, 1989) is a Swedish professional ice hockey forward. He is currently playing with Vaasan Sport in the Finnish Liiga. Playing career In the 2006–07 season, he played for the Frölunda HC in the J20 Supe ...

, professional ice hockey player (Gislaved) J * Bengt-Anders Johansson, politician (Smålandsstenar) O * Annie Oliv, model (Gislaved) R * Maria Rydqvist, cross-country skier (Smålandsstenar) * Johan Runesson, orienteering competitor (Smålandsstenar) S * Henrik Skoog, distance runner (Smålandsstenar) * Johan August Skogsfors, industrialist and founder of Skogsfors Bruk (today ESBE AB) (Reftele) * Carl-Johan Seth, actor, director and author (Reftele) T * Iréne Theorin, dramatic soprano opera singer (Broaryd) W *

Åsa Westlund Åsa Ingrid Gunilla Westlund (born 19 May 1976 in Anderstorp, Jönköping County, Småland, Sweden) is a Sweden, Swedish politician who has been Member of the Riksdag since 2014, representing Stockholm County. In the Riksdag, she is chairman of ...

, politician (Anderstorp) Ö * Emma Örtlund, actress (Reftele)

Sights

The

Scandinavian Raceway Anderstorp Raceway, previously known as Scandinavian Raceway, is a motorsport race track in Anderstorp ( Gislaved Municipality), Sweden and the sole Nordic host of a Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, when the Swedish Grand Prix was held ...

, near Anderstorp, was built in 1968.

References

Statistics Sweden

External links

Gislaved Municipality
- Official site {{authority control Municipalities of Jönköping County