Norrköping (; ) is a
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
in the
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...
of
Östergötland in eastern
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
and the seat of
Norrköping Municipality
Norrköping Municipality (''Norrköpings kommun'') is a municipality in Östergötland County in southeast Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Norrköping, with some 90,000 inhabitants. It is the largest municipality in Östergötland.
...
,
Östergötland County
Östergötland County ( sv, Östergötlands län) is a county or ''län'' in southeastern Sweden. It has land borders with the counties of Kalmar to the southeast, Jönköping to the southwest, Örebro to the northwest, and Södermanland to t ...
, about 160 km southwest of the national capital
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...
, 40 km east of county seat
Linköping and 60 km west of the
Södermanland
Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västm ...
capital of
Nyköping
Nyköping () is a locality and the seat of Nyköping Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 32,759 inhabitants as of 2017. The city is also the capital of Södermanland County.
Including Arnö, the locality on the southern shore of the ...
. The city has a population of 95,618 inhabitants in 2016, out of a municipal total of 130,050,
[Folkmängd i Norrköpings kommun den 31 December 2010](_blank)
making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest municipality.
The city is situated by the mouth of the river
Motala ström
Motala ström is the river system that drains lake Vättern, the second largest lake in Sweden, into the Baltic Sea in Norrköping. It is named from the city Motala where it begins. In the early 19th century, the Göta Canal
The Göta Can ...
, at
Bråviken
Bråviken is a bay of the Baltic sea that is located near Norrköping in Östergötland, Sweden. It is an example of a fjard, a drowned shallow glacial valley
U-shaped valleys, also called trough valleys or glacial troughs, are formed by ...
, an inlet of the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
. Water power from the Motala ström and the good
harbour were factors that facilitated the rapid growth of this once industrial city, known for its
textile
Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, different #Fabric, fabric types, etc. At f ...
industry. It has several nicknames such as: "Sweden's
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
", "
Peking" and "Surbullestan" (Surbulle
our bunwas a local nickname for the textile workers, and stan is short for Staden, which means The City or The Town in Swedish).
History
The city has
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
foundations by
settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area.
A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer.
Settle ...
s around the Motala stream estuary, who used the falls and rapids to power their mills. The stream was also full of fish such as
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...
. Exact dates are uncertain, but there are mentions of a
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chri ...
in the 12th century. It was dedicated to
Saint Olaf, Norway's
patron.
The first trace of the city's name is from 1283, when
Sophia of Denmark
Sophia of Denmark (Danish: ''Sofie Eriksdatter'' and Swedish: ''Sofia Eriksdotter''; 1241–1286) was Queen of Sweden as the consort of King Valdemar.
Background
Sophia was the eldest daughter of Eric IV of Denmark and Jutta of Saxony. She had ...
donated her rights of salmon fishing to the
Skänninge monastery. The town is estimated to have received
city status in the early 14th century, although no written documents exist prior to a document from 1384. This document, signed by
Albrekt of Sweden is stored in the city archive today.
Köping means there was a market there, while Nörr or Norr means "north". There is a smaller town nearby named
Söderköping, or "South market".
The city was the location of several battles in the ensuing centuries. As a consequence, nothing of the medieval Norrköping remains today. During the
Northern Seven Years' War (1563–1570), the entire southern part of Norrköping was burnt. It was rebuilt by
John III of Sweden, who designed the current street pattern.
In 1618, a weapon industry was established by supervision of
Gustavus Adolphus. The harbour also attracted ships due to its proximity to the industries of
Finspång. In addition to the weapon industry, a large scale industry of
textile
Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, different #Fabric, fabric types, etc. At f ...
was also initiated. An important benefactor was the industrial man
Louis De Geer (1587–1652). At De Geer's death, Norrköping had 6,000 inhabitants and was Sweden's second largest city.
The city again burnt in 1655, and again in 1719 during the
Russian Pillage of 1719-21 when the Russians burnt it to the ground. Stones from the Johannisborg castle were used to build new houses, and today only a few stones remain.
During the 18th century it was rebuilt and several industries soon got a stronghold: In the 1740s, Norrköping boasted three
sugar refineries
A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or beets into white refined sugar.
Many cane sugar mills produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it more colour (and impurities) than the white ...
; in the 1750s the large scale influential
snus
Snus ( , ) is a tobacco product, originating from a variant of dry snuff in early 18th-century Sweden. It is placed between the upper lip and gum for extended periods, as a form of sublabial administration. Snus is not fermented. Although use ...
industry was established. From this time stems the city churches of Saint Olof and Saint Hedvig, and several other old houses. In 1762, the first theater in Sweden outside of Stockholm was established in the city, the
Egges Teater.
Norrköping's importance again flourished. In 1769 the Swedish
Riksdag assembled there. In 1800 King
Gustav IV of Sweden was crowned in the Church of Saint Olof.
In the later 18th and early 19th Centuries, Norrköping was one of the three Swedish cities where
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
were allowed to live (see
History of the Jews in Sweden
The history of Jews in Sweden can be traced from the 17th century, when their presence is verified in the baptism records of the Stockholm Cathedral. Several Jewish families were baptised into the Lutheran Church, a requirement for permission ...
).
The city again suffered fires in 1822 and 1826. Thereafter wooden houses were banned. In 1841 a ship industry was initiated as a branch of
Motala Verkstad in
Motala. In 1850 the industry had over 600 employees making it Sweden's largest ship industry at the time. During the remaining 19th century, the industries kept expanding. The area by the Motala Stream was developed further with the construction of a
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
refinery, and a
paper mill was constructed in 1854, specializing in newspaper, and is still today exporting to customers around the world.
The industry, including textile manufacturers, also expanded into the 20th century. In 1950 a total of 54 factories had 6,600 employees in town. By 1956, however, 18 of them had been closed due to competition from countries abroad with lower wages, such as
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
. In 1970 only 10 factories and 1,200 employees remained. In that year, the renowned
Holmen paper mill, with its 350 years long history, announced closure, and another 900 people were let go. To counter the effects, several governmental authorities were relocated to Norrköping from
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...
. See also
Braviken Paper Mill.
As of 2002, Norrköping is now seeing a revival, as a center of culture and education. The Norrköping symbol represents the "new" Norrköping.
Main sights
The Motala ström river flows through the city has a parade annexed. In connection to the latter is the industrial landscape where the old textile industries once were situated.
In the summer, there is a cactus plantation in ''Carl Johans Park''. 25,000 cacti planted there every summer.
Kolmårdens Djurpark is a zoo located north of Norrköping. In connection to the large outdoor zoo, there is als
Tropicariet an aquarium, where for example snakes, crocodiles and sharks can be seen.
The archipelagos away from Norrköping are called St Anna and Gryt.
A campus of
Linköping University, its own
symphonic orchestra, an airport called Kungsängen with 170,000 traveling (2006), a high-tech industry park called
Norrköping Science Park, and
Petroglyphs
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
from the
Nordic Bronze Age.
Climate
Norrköping had a
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...
(
Dfb) for the reference period of 1961–1990, but it was borderline four-season
oceanic (Cfb) during that period and has since more resembled the latter, with somewhat warmer temperatures year-round. In spite of it being located near the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
, Norrköping has a relatively dry climate with precipitation levels averaging between 1961 and 1990. That would in turn be very low for a marine climate, but some way above more arid climates. The humidity for most of the year combined with there being no pronounced dry season keeps the surroundings green in spite of the rain shadow effect. Winter precipitation is quite low, but often falls as snow. On August 26, 2016, Norrköping set a nationwide record for the hottest temperature in the latter parts of August with during a sudden and brief burst of extreme heat.
Demography
Notable natives
*
Herman Theodor Lundgren – entrepreneur
*
Thecla Åhlander – stage and film actress
*
Hannes Alfvén
Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén (; 30 May 1908 – 2 April 1995) was a Swedish electrical engineer, plasma physicist and winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). He described the class of MHD waves now ...
– physicist, Nobel Prize winner
*
Joannes Olaus Alnander – 18th Century author
*
Malin Baryard
Malin Birgitta Barijard Johnsson, born 10 April 1975 in Söderköping, Östergötland, Sweden) is a Swedish equestrian, competing in show jumping.[Amy Diamond
Amy Linnéa Deasismont (born 15 April 1992), previously known under the stage name Amy Diamond, is a Swedish singer. She is known for her single " What's in It for Me". The song was a 2005 hit in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. It was the ...]
– singer
*
Eva Gothlin
Eva Gothlin (26 January 1957 – 22 December 2006) was a Swedish historian of ideas.
Biography
Eva Lundgren was born on 26 January 1957 in Norrköping.Sveriges dödbok, omnämnd som: 19570126-1942 Gothlin Lundgren
Gothlin defended her thesis on ...
– historian
*
Elin Grindemyr – model
*
Eldkvarn
Eldkvarn was a grand gristmill in central Stockholm that burned in 1878 — an event which was known as "the fire of the century". It was located where today the Stockholm City Hall stands.
The mill was built in 1805 for Abraham Niclas Ede ...
– music group
*
Peter Harryson – actor, entertainer
*
Markus Krunegård
Markus Krunegård (born 6 April 1979 in Norrköping, Östergötland, Sweden) is a Swedish-Finnish singer and songwriter.
Career
On 2 April 2008 he released his solo album 'Markusevangeliet', with the debut single "Jag är en vampyr" made it to ...
– solo singer and member of Laakso
*
Charlotta Löfgren
Catharina ''Charlotta'' Löfgren (January 1720, Linköping – 14 February 1784), was a Swedish lady of letters and poet.
Biography
Charlotta Löfgren was the daughter of the local official Anders Löfgréen (d. 1728) and Anna Schreibe and the s ...
– poet
*
Mats Löfving
Mats Olov Löfving (born 27 May 1961) is a Swedish police officer, Deputy Director of the Swedish Police Authority. He has served as Chief of Police of both Östergötland and Västra Götaland, and has been appointed as the next regional chie ...
– police chief
*
Laakso
Laakso ( sv, Dal) is a neighbourhood in Helsinki, Finland. Its borders are defined by the streets of Mannerheimintie and Nordenskiöldinkatu and the Helsinki Central Park. The neighbourhood is bordered by Töölö in the south, Meilahti in the ...
– music group
*
Marduk – music group
*
Moa Martinson
Moa Martinson, born Helga Maria Swarts sometimes spelt Swartz, (2November 18905August 1964) was one of Sweden's most noted authors of proletarian literature. Her ambition was to change society with her authorship and to portray the conditions of ...
– author
*
Ture Nerman – poet and socialist politician
*
Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson – NHL hockey player
*
Slagsmålsklubben – electronic popgroup
*
Jeffery Taylor
Jeffery Matthew Taylor (born May 23, 1989) is a Swedish-American professional basketball player for BC Wolves of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL). He played college basketball for Vanderbilt University, before being drafted 31st overall by ...
– basketball player (
Real Madrid Baloncesto)
*
Michael B. Tretow – producer and audio engineer
*
Pernilla Wiberg
Pernilla Wiberg (born 15 October 1970) is a Swedish former alpine ski racer and businesswoman. She competed on the World Cup circuit between 1990 and 2002, where she became one of the few all-event winners. Having won two Olympic gold medals, ...
– alpine skier, double Olympic gold medalist
*
Johannes Årsjö – heavy weight champion
*
23 Till – music group
*
Ove Kindvall - soccer player
*
Christoffer Nyman
Christoffer Åke Sven "Totte" Nyman (born 5 October 1992) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays for IFK Norrköping as a forward.
Club career
Youth career
Nyman was born in Norrköping and grew up close to the IFK Norrköping home s ...
- professional footballer
*
Fredrik Lundberg
Fredrik Lundberg (born 5 August 1951) is a Swedish businessman.
His father was Lars Erik Lundberg (1920-2001) founder of L E Lundbergföretagen. Fredrik Lundberg is president and CEO of L E Lundbergföretagen, of which he inherited a control ...
– entrepreneur
*
Carl Swartz
Carl Johan Gustaf Swartz (5 June 1858 – 6 November 1926) was a Swedish right-wing politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from March to October 1917. He also served as Minister for Finance from 1906 to 1911. He married Dagmar Lu ...
– former prime minister
Sports
*
IFK Norrköping (
Association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
)
*
Norrköping Dolphins
The Norrköping Dolphins are a professional basketball club from Norrköping, Sweden. It plays in the Basketligan, the highest league in Sweden and won the league six times. Home games of Norrköping are played at the Stadium Arena.
History
The c ...
(
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
)
*
HC Vita Hästen (
Ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...
)
*
Vargarna (
Speedway)
*
Norrköpings KK
Norrköpings KK is a Swedish swim team from Norrköping, founded September 7, 1919. Its best-known swimmers are the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal winner Björn Borg and Olympic silver medallist Tina Gustafsson.
Swimmers
*Björn Borg
Björn ...
(
Swimming)
Government Agencies
As part of the Swedish Government decentralisation policies of the 1960s and 1970s, a number of government agencies saw their national headquarters relocated from Stockholm to other parts of the country. A government inquiry suggested in 1970 that six such agencies should be relocated to Norrköping, with a particular focus on maritime and aviation transport and related services.
After parliamentary debate, five agencies were established in Norrköping over a period of years in the early 1970s. While reorganized, restructured and renamed, in general, the same agencies are still headquartered in Norrköping, namely:
*
Air Navigation Services of Sweden
*
Swedish Maritime Administration
*
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute
*
Swedish Migration Agency
The Swedish Migration Agency ( sv, Migrationsverket; previous English name: Swedish Migration Board), is a Swedish government agency, established on 1 July 1969. Its task is to evaluate and decide on applications from people who want to seek a te ...
*
Swedish Prison and Probation Service
The establishment of government agencies in Norrköping was partly understood as a response to the decline in the textile industry, which had struck Norrköping hard in the 1960s. The city needed new jobs. The relocation of government jobs, however, also meant a major shift in the structure of the city labour market. Unqualified or highly structured industrial work in the private sector was replaced by more than 1 400 qualified and independent work positions in the public sector.
At a later point, the Norrköping cluster of transport authorities was augmented by one more:
*
Swedish Transport Agency (''Transportstyrelsen'')
In 1997, a state university also opened a subsidiary campus in Norrköping, again, relating to the industry changes and being an important part of the government response to unemployment and labour market policy. Although not a headquarter, it is the seventh government agency stationed in Norrköping, and with more than 5 000 students on campus it is a major hub of activities in the city.
*
Linköping University, Campus Norrköping
Logistics and Infrastructure
With a deep sea harbour, a position on the
Southern Main Line
The Southern Main Line ( sv, Södra stambanan) is a long standard gauge electrified railway between Malmö and Katrineholm in Sweden. The trains continue further on to Stockholm Central Station along the Western Main Line and terminate there (at p ...
railway,
Norrköping Airport and being the intersection of
European route E4
European route E4 passes from north to south through Sweden from the border with Finland, with a total length of . The Finnish part lies entirely within Tornio in northern Finland, and is only long. The Swedish part traverses most of Sweden ex ...
and
European route E22, Norrköping is particularly well situated for logistics related business. This is further underlined by the presence of three transport related government agencies, the national weather services and Linköping University transports and logistics research and education programmes in place.
Norrköping is highly involved in the
East Link, ''Ostlänken'', which will increase travel speed and freight capacity on the Southern Main Line. As preparation, the ''Kardonbanan'' freight feeder line from Norrköping Harbour to the Southern Main Line was inaugurated in February 2021.
A new freight railway terminal and a relocation of
Norrköping Central Station is currently being studied.
Norrköping is one of two Swedish cities (the other being
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
) that retained its tram system after the 1967 conversion to right-hand drive, see
Norrköping Tramway.
Culture
A theatre in Norrköping, Egges Theatre, hosted the first Scandinavian performance of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's
Romeo and Juliet in 1776, and the city has a long theatre and revue tradition. Current main theatres are
Östgötateatern (Sweden's biggest regional theatre) from 1947 and
Arbisteatern from 1865.
A 2016 Swedish drama/documentary, The Sex Temple
Sextemplet" produced by Swedish Television), shows off both the charming old town and one of its glorious 19th-century theaters (the
Arbisteatern) to great effect.
See also
*
Church of Saint Bridget, Norrköping
References
External links
*
*
Norrköping Tourism
Local event guide for Norrköpin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norrkoping
Municipal seats of Östergötland County
Swedish municipal seats
Populated places in Östergötland County
Populated places in Norrköping Municipality
Port cities and towns of the Baltic Sea
Market towns in Sweden
Coastal cities and towns in Sweden
Cities in Östergötland County