Slottsskogen (, "Castle Forest") is a 137-

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

park located in central

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 ...

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 country located on ...

History

When Gothenburg was founded in the 17th century, the area of Slottsskogen was a forest that belonged to the

Old Älvsborg Älvsborg (literally "river stronghold" in Swedish), now generally known as Old Älvsborg ( sv, Gamla Älvsborg) or Älvsborg Castle ( sv, Älvsborgs Slott) to distinguish it from the later New Älvsborg and Älvsborg Fortress, was a medieval ca ...

fortress. In the 1880s the city had grown to the vicinity of the forest, and merchant August Kobb took initiative to create the city park, which has the character of an

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...

with lawns and trees.

Activities

Slottsskogen has a wide range of activities: there is

Slottsskogens djurpark Slottskogens djurpark is a Swedish zoo in the park Slottsskogen, located in the town Gothenburg in Sweden. It is a member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). Partially opened for public in 1876, Slottskogens djurpark is one ...

, a

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes. The term ''zoological g ...

with Swedish animals, a pond with

seals Seals may refer to: * 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 impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...

and

penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

s, a Swedish heritage area with small cottages from different counties, a playground for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

frisbee golf Disc golf, also known as frisbee golf, is a flying disc sport in which players throw a disc at a target; it is played using rules similar to golf. Most disc golf discs are made out of polypropylene plastic, otherwise known as polypropene, which ...

and so forth. Slottsskogen is also the home of the

Way Out West Festival Way Out West is a three-day music festival held in Gothenburg, Sweden, during August that plays host to a variety of popular music artists mainly from the rock, electronic and hip-hop genres. The main festival is complemented with the club conc ...

, which occurs annually. In August 2014, a

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

to the last concert of the band

Broder Daniel Broder Daniel (Swedish for ''Brother Daniel''), often abbreviated as BD, was an alternative rock band from Gothenburg, Sweden. They formed in the late 1980s and then consisted of classmates Henrik Berggren and Daniel Gilbert. The band claims the ...

during Way Out West 2008 was raised in Slottsskogen.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Parks in Gothenburg