Kristianopel () is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Karlskrona Municipality Karlskrona Municipality (''Karlskrona kommun'') is a Municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Blekinge County in South Sweden in southern Sweden. It borders to Emmaboda Municipality, Torsås Municipality and Ronneby Municipality. The city of Karl ...

in the southeastern

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

region of

Blekinge Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second ...

. In 2015 it had a population of 88.

History of the town

Flint finds have been made at the site, which indicates that there have been

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

settlements here. Kristianopel (old spelling Christianopel) is located in the easternmost part of Blekinge, which was the easternmost part of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in beginning of the 17th century. The town of

Avaskär Avaskär is a village, with chapel and cemetery, in Kristianopel parish in eastern Blekinge in Sweden. The city is mentioned first in 1350 and existed until 1600, when the city together with Lyckå lost its city charter in favor of the newly fo ...

, located just a few hundred metres north of present-day Kristianopel, was too difficult to defend from Swedish attacks. The Danish king

Christian IV Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian monar ...

had a fortress built south of it in 1603 and named it after his newborn son - Prince Christian (1603–1647) or Kristian, with Swedish spelling. The

Germanised Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In ling ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

' -opel' was given to give the town a cosmopolitan ring similar to

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

. Construction of the town was completed in 1606 and held approximately 700 inhabitants. During the

Kalmar War The Kalmar War (1611–1613) was a war between Denmark–Norway and Sweden. Though Denmark-Norway soon gained the upper hand, it was unable to defeat Sweden entirely. The Kalmar War was the last time Denmark-Norway successfully defended its '' do ...

, prince

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(1594 — 1632), took the town with a small force on June 25, 1611 and destroyed the supplies the Danes had stored there. The town was burned down and the church was demolished. The city privileges of Avaskär and neighboring Lyckå were transferred to Kristianopel in 1622, and the town was fortified in 1637. Lyckå Castle was demolished in order to use it as building material at Kristianopel. Kristianopel Church (''Kristianopels Kyrka'') or Church of the Holy Trinity was rebuilt between 1618 and 1624. The building was retrieved limestone and granite from

Öland Öland (, ; ; sometimes written ''Øland'' in other Scandinavian languages, and often ''Oland'' internationally; la, Oelandia) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area ...

and bricks from nearby

Nättraby Nättraby is a urban areas of Sweden, locality situated in Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 3,109 inhabitants in 2010. Within the parish to the west is the hamlet of Bjärby. On 25 April 1895, a was opened between Nättraby ...

. It is the only preserved building from the time when Kristianopel was a fortified city and the last outpost of the Danish kingdom at the border to Sweden. Kristianopel's significance as a frontier fortress vanished when Blekinge became Swedish as a consequence of the

treaty of Roskilde The Treaty of Roskilde (concluded on 26 February ( OS), or 8 March 1658) ( NS) during the Second Northern War between Frederick III of Denmark–Norway and Karl X Gustav of Sweden in the Danish city of Roskilde. After a devastating defeat, ...

in 1658 and in 1676 the fortress' equipment was transferred to

Karlshamn Karlshamn () is a locality and the seat of Karlshamn Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden. It had 13,576 inhabitants in 2015, out of 31,846 in the municipality. Karlshamn received a Royal Charter and city privileges in 1664, when King Charles X ...

. September 25 that same year the abandoned fortress was taken by Danish lieutenant colonel Lützow, who began shoring up the partially demolished fortifications and made Kristianopel a strongpoint for the

Snapphane A ''snapphane'' was a member of a 17th-century pro-Danish guerrilla organization, auxiliaries or paramilitary troops that fought against the Swedes in the Second Northern and Scanian Wars, primarily in the eastern former Danish provinces that ha ...

guerrilla. Lützow was forced to yield Kristianopel on February 22, 1677, whereupon the fortress was razed to the ground and the burghers commanded to move to other towns. The town was declared dangerous to the security of Sweden, and in 1678 an order decreed that no building be left standing in Kristianopel. The remaining inhabitants were resettled in

Ronneby Ronneby is a locality and the seat of Ronneby Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden with 12,029 inhabitants in 2010. Ronneby is regarded as the heart of "the Garden of Sweden", and in 2005 the park "Brunnsparken" in Ronneby was voted Sweden's m ...

Växjö Växjö ( ) is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 70,489 inhabitants (2019) out of a municipal population of 95,995 (2021). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of Kronoberg County ...

, and

. During the municipal reform of 1862, Kristianopel did not become its own municipality in

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 Munici ...

, but was then part of Kristianopel's county municipality. However, the town continued to be called köping and gradually gained administrative rights equivalent to a municipal community, but was called municipal köping which remained until the end of 1923. In 1924, Kristianopel's municipal society was established in the county municipality, although it is unclear whether the city statutes were applied. In the census, Kristianopel is also not called a municipal society, but is called Kristianopel's köping. Kristianopel's distinctive status disappeared on 1 January 1952 (according to a decision on 14 December 1951) when the town was no longer counted as köping. At the same time, the town merged with the county municipality into Jämjö county municipality. This in turn amounted to Karlskrona municipality in 1974. In 1890, Kristianopel had 137 inhabitants and in 1932 it had 102 inhabitants. On 30 April 1981 a stampede took place in Kristianopel prior to a concert with

Gyllene Tider Gyllene Tider (; "Golden Times") was a Swedish pop group fronted by Roxette singer, guitarist and songwriter Per Gessle. They were one of the best-selling Swedish bands ever and have had numerous hits in Scandinavia, starting with the break-th ...

. 3 people died as a result. In October 2015 Karlskrona Municipality decided to open a refugee camp in Kristianopel, giving shelter to 80 people.Kristianopels camping blir flyktingboende
Sveriges Radio AB

Gallery

File:Kristianopel Blekinge.jpg Image:Trähus Kristianopel.jpg File:Kristianopel IMG 1799.jpg File:Kristianopel IMG 1797.jpg File:Kristianopel IMG 1791.jpg

References

External links

About Kristianopel

About Kristianopel Camping & Guestharbor
* {{authority control Populated places in Karlskrona Municipality Market towns in Sweden Populated places established in 1603 Populated coastal places in Sweden