Majorna () is a residential area in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is a part of the borough Majorna-Linné. It is located west of the city just outside the city centre, with

Göta älv The Göta älv (; "River of (the) Geats") is a river that drains lake Vänern into the Kattegat, at the city of Gothenburg, on the western coast of Sweden. It was formed at the end of the last glaciation, as an outflow channel from the Baltic Ic ...

in the north, Masthugget and

Slottsskogen Slottsskogen (, "Castle Forest") is a 137-hectare park located in central Gothenburg, Sweden. History When Gothenburg was founded in the 17th century, the area of Slottsskogen was a forest that belonged to the Old Älvsborg fortress. In the ...

in the east, Högsbo in the south and Älvsborg in the west.

History

Majorna is an old area, originating from the times of the

Älvsborg fortress Älvsborg Fortress ( sv, Älvsborgs fästning), with its main facility Oscar II's Fort ( sv, Oscar II:s fort) built 1899–1907, is a now-defunct Swedish fortification located at the mouth of the Göta River in the Älvsborg district of Gothen ...

before the foundation of Gothenburg in 1621. After the foundation of the city of Gothenburg, Majorna housed wharfs and other harbour-related business. It became a part of the city in 1868, prior to this it had been owned by the city's police authority, but it belonged to

Örgryte Örgryte is one of the 21 ''stadsdelsnämndsområden'' (a kind of district often translated as borough) of Gothenburg Municipality, Sweden. It is a largely upper middle class residential area, just to the east of the city centre. It has a populati ...

parish. After including Majornas in Gothenburg, the population of the city exceeded 50,000. In the beginning of the 1900s, Majorna got its first tram line. It went over a hill known as Stigbergsliden, continued along Karl Johansgatan, all the way to the end station at Slottskogsgatan. This meant that the population of Majorna became less isolated, they could now take the tram to work in the factories in Gamlestaden, and later at

SKF AB SKF (Swedish: ''Svenska Kullagerfabriken''; 'Swedish Ball Bearing Factory') is a Swedish bearing and seal manufacturing company founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1907. The company manufactures and supplies bearings, seals, lubrication and l ...

Architecture

The buildings significant to Majorna are the three storey buildings where the first storey is built in stone and the topmost two are built of wood, called

Landshövdingehus Landshövdingehus () is a building type unique to the Swedish city of Gothenburg. Nineteenth-century city bylaws ruled that houses made of wood could be of maximum of two storeys high, in order to protect against fires. However, one build ...

. They were frequently built in Gothenburg during the late 1800s and early 1900s. In Majorna they represent a flat, urban neighborhood, with tree lined avenues, courtyards, small shops in the ground floor of the buildings, and details that testify of the fine craftsmanship put into the bay windows, brick arches and the forged steel railings. A large number of the buildings still remains, but in some areas they have been replaced by newer constructions. The upper parts of the hills in Gothenburg were not built-up, with the exception for some shacks, until the mid 20th century; there are mostly buildings from the 1960s and 1970s, some of them in a Functionalistic style.

Population

Majorna has traditionally been a typical working class area, with a population of industrial workers and dockers. According to Agnes Arpi, the area still has a strong working-class identity. She claims that the working class heritage has characterized how the people living in Majorna see themselves, and that people considering themselves as radical and politically aware with an Alternative lifestyle, has moved there over the years because of this. This statement is supported by the results in the 2010 Swedish election. In the electoral area of Mariaplan (1 of the 13 in Majorna) 25.3 percent of the votes went to the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

, 23.9 to the Left Party and 18.6 to the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

. 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 ...

only received 15.1 percent of the votes (compared to the country average of 30.1). The numbers are more or less the same in the whole of Majorna. Majorna is one of the areas of Gothenburg that are undergoing

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...

, at least symbolically.

References

{{commonscat, Majorna, Göteborg, Majorna Boroughs of Gothenburg