Lysekil () is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

and the seat of

Lysekil Municipality Lysekil Municipality (''Lysekils kommun'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Lysekil. The present municipality was formed in 1971, when the ''City of Lysekil'' (instituted as such ...

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1 ...

, Sweden. It had about 7,600 inhabitants in 2018. Situated on the south tip of Stångenäs peninsula at the mouth of

Gullmarn Gullmarn, also known as Gullmarsfjorden or Gullmaren, is a threshold fjord in the middle of Bohuslän Archipelago on the west coast of Sweden. It is the largest of the Bohuslän fjords with a length of and a width ranging from . At its mouth, t ...

fjord, it has two

nature reserve 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 ...

s. Originally a small

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 m ...

, it developed into a town for fishing industries, commercial shipping and trade during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Stone industry Stone industry refers to the part of the primary sector of the economy, similar to the mining industry, but concerned with excavations of stones, in particular granite, marble, slate and sandstone. Other products of the industry include crushed s ...

based on the red

Bohus granite The Bohus granite ( sv, Bohusgranit) is a type of granite that crops out along the Swedish West Coast in Bohuslän. In Norway the same granites are termed Iddefjord granite ( no, Iddefjordsgranitt), Østfold granite and Halden granite. A large qua ...

from quarries in the town, was also vital to Lysekil up until the 1950s. One of Sweden's largest oil refineries,

Preemraff Lysekil Preemraff Lysekil is an oil refinery located at Brofjorden near the Swedish city of Lysekil. Production Originally named Scanraff, the refinery was taken into use in 1975. The site was selected because of its excellent natural harbour, and the ...

is situated outside the town. During the 19th century, Lysekil was established as a prominent spa and bathing resort and tourism still makes up a large part of the town's economy.

History

Lysekil is first mentioned in 1570. It was originally an estate belonging to Lyse farm further inland. The population lived mostly on fishing and commercial shipping. The first settlement was on the north side on the tip of Stångenäs peninsula, where a natural, sheltered harbor is formed by a bay in Kornö fjord. The area is known today as North Harbor (''Norra Hamnen''). Before fixed

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

es were built in the area, the local inhabitants would light false

beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

fires, causing ships to run aground.

Pillaging Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

wrecks and also killing sailors who defended their stranded ships, was common along the coastline. During the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedi ...

(1700–1721), Lysekil was one of the harbors along the Swedish west coast where

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

ing became sanctioned by the government through the issuing of letters of marque.

Charles XII of Sweden Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( sv, Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of t ...

needed ships and men for the navy and one of the ways to get this was to give private ships and captains permission to seize and capture enemy ships and their crews. Lysekil - KMB - 16001000325864

When

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

fishing peaked after 1750, fishing industries flourished in Lysekil. The main export products were

salted herring Spekesild (Norwegian for ''raw herring pickled in salt'') is Atlantic herring preserved using salt. Salt curing The preservation takes place by the salt extracting water from the herring, and thus poorer growth conditions are created for microbe ...

and

train oil Whale oil is oil obtained from the blubber of whales. Whale oil from the bowhead whale was sometimes known as train oil, which comes from the Dutch word ''traan'' (" tear" or "drop"). Sperm oil, a special kind of oil obtained from the head ...

made from boiled herring to extract the

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

. During the

Age of Sail The Age of Sail is a period that lasted at the latest from the mid-16th (or mid- 15th) to the mid- 19th centuries, in which the dominance of sailing ships in global trade and warfare culminated, particularly marked by the introduction of naval ...

, Lysekil became a center for fishing, shipping and transport. At the mid 1800s, the

had a number of sailing ships. In 1909, 18 large sailing ships and 10

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

s were registered in Lysekil. The harbor records that same year show 6,832 ships, including 185 foreign, coming and leaving. Lysekil - KMB - 16001000324794

During the second part of the 1800s, Lysekil developed into a

bathing resort A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, such as in the German ' ...

. The first warm water bath house was made from the

cabin Cabin may refer to: Buildings * Beach cabin, a small wooden hut on a beach * Log cabin, a house built from logs * Cottage, a small house * Chalet, a wooden mountain house with a sloping roof * Cabin, small free-standing structures that serve as in ...

of a ship and the first real house was built in 1849. In 1859,

Carl Curman Carl Peter Curman (8 March 1833 in Sjögestad – 19 October 1913 in Stockholm) was a Swedish physician and a prominent balneologist. he was also a gifted amateur architect and photographer. After school in Skänninge and Linköping, Curma ...

became resident physician at the resort. He had studied the climate along the west coast and found Lysekil to be best suited for a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. H ...

and through his contacts, the town became a resort favoured by the

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

socialite. New bathhouses, hotels and parks were built in 1864–1890 along the south side of the town, now known as the South Harbor (''Södra Hamnen''). Among those were the two Curman Villas built in

Dragestil Dragestil ("Dragon Style") is a style of design and architecture that originated in Norway and was widely used principally between 1880 and 1910. It is a variant of the more embracing National Romantic style and an expression of Romantic nationali ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

was one of the ports involved in

Operation Bridford ''Gay Viking'' was a blockade runner of the British Merchant Navy. Originally under construction as a Motor Gun Boat, ''Gay Viking'' was one of eight vessels that were ordered by the Turkish Navy, but were requisitioned by the Royal Navy to s ...

during which fast ships, called "Blockade runners", could break through the German

Skagerrak The Skagerrak (, , ) is a strait running between the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, the southeast coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area through the Danish Straits to the Baltic Sea. The ...

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

blockade and ship

ball bearing A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races. The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...

s to

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...

, England. The same route was later used to bring supplies and ammunition from Britain to the

Danish resistance movement The Danish resistance movements ( da, Den danske modstandsbevægelse) were an underground insurgency to resist the German occupation of Denmark during World War II. Due to the initially lenient arrangements, in which the Nazi occupation autho ...

Geography

Lysekil is situated on the south tip of the Stångenäs peninsula on the Swedish west coast at the mouth of

fjord. The town is surrounded on three sides by the sea and a number of islands and islets. The largest islands are Stora and Lilla Skeppsholmen, Skälholmarna, Valboholmen, Humlesäcken, Stångholmen, Släggö, Grötö, and Tova. Lysekil is surrounded by harbors, piers, boardwalks and quays on all sides facing the sea. The two main harbors are North Harbor and South Harbor. At the North Harbor, the original small wooden cottages and houses from the first settlement, ''Gamlestan'' (Old Town), have been restored and rebuilt into a picturesque part of the town. Both the north and the south harbors have guest harbors as well as plenty of restaurants and cafés.

Nature reserves

There are two

s in Lysekil, Stångehuvud and Gullmarn fjord. The

red granite Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to Orange (colour), orange and opposite Violet (color), violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the ...

cliffs of Stångehuvud were bought for conservation purpose in 1920 by

Calla Curman Calla Curman, née ''Lundström'' (1850–1935), was a Swedish writer, salon-holder and feminist. She was also the founder of Stångehuvud nature reserve and one of the five founders of the women's association Nya Idun. Family Calla Curman w ...

and in 1982, the area was established as a nature reserve. The cliffs make up the southwest end of Stångenäs peninsula. In 1983, Gullmarn fjord was designated as Sweden's first

marine conservation Marine conservation, also known as ocean conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas through planned management in order to prevent the over-exploitation of these marine resources. Marine conservation is in ...

area.

Economy

Starting out as a small fishing village, Lysekil developed into a place for

fishing industry The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including ...

and refined

fish products Fish and fish products are consumed as food all over the world. With other seafoods, they provides the world's prime source of high-quality protein; 14–16 percent of the animal protein consumed worldwide. Over one billion people rely on fish a ...

. Large amounts of

were also produced and exported to European countries as well as

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

to be used in street lamps. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were around 40 factories in Lysekil. In 1893, Arvid Bernhard Öhnberg started the A. B. Öhnberg Canning Company which included the ''Ejderns'' brand, all now owned by

Abba Seafood Abba Seafood AB, formerly Abba AB, with head offices in Gothenburg, Sweden, is a company producing preserved fish products. The main factory is located in Kungshamn. The company was established in Bergen 1838 and in the 1850s it moved to Stoc ...

. They produced a special sort of caviar that is still one of the most popular sandwich spreads in Sweden. Lysekil Caviar, often referred to as creamed

smoked Smoking is the process of flavoring, browning, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Meat, fish, and ''lapsang souchong'' tea are often smoked. In Europe, alder is the tradi ...

roe Roe ( ) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooking, coo ...

, differs from normal caviar in that its main ingredients are cod roe,

canola oil Close-up of canola blooms Canola flower Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae. Historically, i ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are c ...

and

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

; it is also often seasoned with

dill Dill (''Anethum graveolens'') is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is the only species in the genus ''Anethum''. Dill is grown widely in Eurasia, where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring food. Growth ...

. Kalles Kaviar is the best-known brand. The fisherman's bicycle

Granite

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

and

stonemasonry Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. It is one of the oldest activities and professions in human history. Many of the long-lasting, ancient shelters, temples, mo ...

were part of Lysekil's industries in 1850–1950. The granite was much in demand for buildings and

street paving A road surface (British English), or pavement (American English), is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces, hoggin, cobble ...

in Britain, Germany, Denmark, Belgium and Argentine. In 1909, there were five quarries in Lysekil. Tourism became a vital source of income for Lysekil in the 1850s. The town was established as a fashionable bathing resort. In 2018, tourism is still vital for the town's economy. It has branched out to include more activities

underwater diving Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context ...

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

sports fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...

and

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

safaris. One of the largest oil refinery in Sweden,

, situated a few miles outside the town, is one of the main employers in the area. Plans to build a refinery near Lysekil started in 1945 when the Swedish consumer-owned oil company Oljekonsumenters Riksförbund (OK), was formed. Negotiations for building the refinery were long and hard, and it was not until 1975 that it was inaugurated.

2017 port project proposal

In late November 2017, pro-Beijing businessman and

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

(CPPCC) member

Gao Jingde Gunter Gao Jingde (, also known as Ko King-tak) is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) of the People's Republic of China. In April 2010, he was vice-chairman of its Committee of Education, Science, Culture, He ...

, on behalf of a consortium led by Hong Kong-listed Sunbase International (Holdings) Ltd of which he is chairman, proposed building Scandinavia's largest port at Lysekil.

Transport

In 1910, Lysekil was connected with the rest of the Swedish railway network through the

Lysekil Line The Lysekil Line ( sv, Lysekilsbanan) is a branch railway of the Bohus Line, connecting Smedberg and Lysekil in the Swedish province of Bohuslän. Opened in 1913, it is today a single-track, electrified standard gauge line long. Most of it is ...

, a

branch railway A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...

of the

Bohus Line The Bohus Line ( sv, Bohusbanan) is a long railway line from Gothenburg via Uddevalla and Munkedal to Strömstad. The line is single track and electrified at . Bohus Line has seventeen stations; Strömstad, Skee, Överby, Tanum, Rabbalshede ...

. Passenger transport in the line, ceased in 1983, while some freight use remained. Maintenance in the line continued until 2016 with only a few trains running during summer. On 9 December 2018, all maintenance and traffic on the line will cease as the

switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...

in Smedberg is disconnected. The public transportation bus network in Lysekil is operated by

Västtrafik Västtrafik is the agency responsible for public transport services involving buses, ferries, trains, and the Gothenburg tram network in the county of Västra Götaland, Sweden (plus Kungsbacka Municipality). It was established with the Västra G� ...

. The network also includes a ferry, ''M/S Carl Wilhelmson'' (line 847), between Lysekil and

Fiskebäckskil Fiskebäckskil is a locality in Lysekil Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden, at the mouth of the Gullmarn fjord. It had 379 inhabitants in 2010. Once primarily a fishing community, it transformed into a shipping community in the 19th cen ...

on the other side of Gullmarn fjord. Another ferry service across the fjord from Lysekil, is the car ferry operated by Trafikverket Färjerederiet.

Sights and events

Harvesting grapes in Chateaux Luna vineyard 1

* Havets Hus is a

public aquarium A public aquarium (plural: ''public aquaria'' or ''public Water Zoo'') is the aquatic counterpart of a zoo, which houses living aquatic animal and plant specimens for public viewing. Most public aquariums feature tanks larger than those kept b ...

showcasing the animals living in the sea surrounding Lysekil. The aquarium cooperates with the Institute of Marine Research, part of

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, or Swedish Agricultural University (Swedish: ''Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet'') (SLU) is a university in Sweden. Although its head office is located in Ultuna, Uppsala, the university has several c ...

. * Vikarvets Museum is a Working Life Museum with exhibits about life in the old days in

Bohuslän Bohuslän (; da, Bohuslen; no, Båhuslen) is a Swedish province in Götaland, on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea ...

. * Chateaux Luna at Café Luna in Lysekil, is one of the few

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

s in Sweden producing its own wine. * Lysekil Women's Match is an annual

match racing A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head. In sailboat racing it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams consis ...

sailing competition in Lysekil. * Lysekil Cruising is an annual cruising event held on

Midsummer's Eve Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe. The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian mar ...

. With around 1,500 vintage cars, the event is one of the biggest in Sweden, occupying the whole town during the Midsummer weekend.

Notable people from Lysekil

Nathalie Djurberg Nathalie Djurberg (born 1978 in Lysekil) is a Swedish video artist who lives and works in Berlin. Life and work Djurberg is best known for producing claymation short films that are faux-naïve, but graphically violent and erotic. Their main ch ...

(born 1978) – artist *

Bert Lundin Bert Lundin (29 April 1921 – 3 February 2018) was a Swedish union leader who led the Swedish Metalworkers' Union, at the time the largest member organization of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, from 1972 to 1981. He also had leadership posi ...

(1921–2018) – union leader *

William Matson William Matson (born Wilhelm Mattson) (October 18, 1849 in Lysekil – October 11, 1917) was a Swedish-born American shipping executive. He was the founder of Matson Navigation Company. Early life Wilhelm Matson said he was born on October 18, 18 ...

(1849–1917) –

Swedish-American Swedish Americans ( sv, svenskamerikaner) are Americans of Swedish ancestry. They include the 1.2 million Swedish immigrants during 1865–1915, who formed tight-knit communities, as well as their descendants and more recent immigrants. Today, ...

shipping executive. *

Fredrik Risp Lars Fredrik Risp (born 15 December 1980) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played professionally in Sweden, Italy, Turkey, Norway, Denmark, Bulgaria and Cyprus in a career that spanned between 1996 and 20 ...

(born 1980) – Swedish football player.

Gallery

File:Houses in Gamlestan, Lysekil 6.jpg, The restored old fishermen houses in ''Gamlestan'' (Old Town) at the North Harbor File:Kungsgatan, Lysekil 02.jpg, Lysekil main street File:Lysekils kyrka sedd från hamnen.jpg, Lysekil Church as seen from the harbor File:Curmans villor, Lysekil.jpg, Curman's villas File:Södra hamnen Lysekil 2.jpg, Boats in the South Harbor

References

External links

Lysekil's official tourist website
{{Authority control Municipal seats of Västra Götaland County Swedish municipal seats Populated places in Västra Götaland County Populated places in Lysekil Municipality Coastal cities and towns in Sweden Smoked fish Skagerrak