Mölnlycke is a small town nearby Greater Gothenburg, a locality and the seat of Härryda Municipality,

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County () 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 1,616,000 amounts to 17% of S ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. It had 17,499 inhabitants in 2019. The

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

stretches over two municipalities. Mölndal Municipality is the second.

History

The first people to settle in the area that would later become Mölnlycke came there during the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

. At this time there were five lakes, which today are formed into one single lake. The lake shore is one of the places where many ancient remains have been found. It is speculated that when people learned to farm, this population moved out of the region to an area better for farming. The next known human settlement was during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, and this is also when the first Råda Church was built. During the Middle Ages, the border with

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

went through what is today Mölnlycke and therefore the area was much affected by war between Denmark and

. The first time the name Mölnlycke was mentioned that we know of was 1576. The name was originally made up of the two

Old Swedish Old Swedish ( Modern Swedish: ) is the name for two distinct stages of the Swedish language that were spoken in the Middle Ages: Early Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1225 until about 1375, and Late Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1375 unti ...

words “mölna” and “lycka”, literally meaning mill field. It probably came from a mill built at the location of today's Mölnlycke Fabriker during the Middle Ages. In 1849, Gustaf Ferdinand Hennig founded ''Mölnlycke Väfveri AB'', a textile manufacturer, which has had a big impact on Mölnlycke. In addition to attracting many workers to the city, it also led to the building of the railway between

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

and

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 114,556 inhabitants in 2024. It is widely known for being a textile city, home to worldwide brands and companie ...

, which today still has a stop in Mölnlycke. Today the company is called Mölnlycke Health Care.

Geography

Mölnlycke is located at a height of 91 meters above sea level and is about 10 km from

, the second largest city in Sweden. The short distance to Gothenburg is probably one of the factors of the quick expansion of the city that started during the 20th century, when many people started commuting between Mölnlycke and Gothenburg.

Culture

Mölnlycke Kulturhus, located in the center of Mölnlycke, contains Mölnlycke library, a cinema and a café.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molnlycke Populated places in Härryda Municipality Municipal seats of Västra Götaland County Swedish municipal seats Gothenburg