Säffle () 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

Säffle Municipality Säffle Municipality (''Säffle kommun'') is a municipality in Värmland County in west central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Säffle. Säffle was the last local government unit in Sweden to get the title of a city, in 1951. In 1952 ...

Värmland County Värmland County (''Värmlands län'') is a county or '' län'' in west central Sweden. It borders the Swedish counties of Dalarna, Örebro and Västra Götaland, as well as the Norwegian counties of Viken and Innlandet to the west. Prince Carl P ...

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 ...

with 9,150 inhabitants in 2016. In 1951 the town of Säffle was officially awarded

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 ...

status, the last place for this to occur in Sweden. This was abolished in 1971 and Säffle is now the seat of the much larger

History

Säffle's main growth as a town took place after the building of a canal in 1837 which allowed boats to safely bypass a section of turbulent water and rapids in the Byälven river. In 1879 the railway came, linking Säffle with both the west and east coasts, the capital Stockholm and the busy port of Gothenburg. This enabled Säffle to transport her wood products and the village soon became a thriving town. In 1882 Säffle had a population of 700 inhabitants. Today, Säffle municipality has 16,077 inhabitants (1 January 2005). According to legend, the Viking Olof Trätälja settled and lived in Säffle. Streets, churches, and a lot of other places are named after him.

Cultural references

Most parts of the Kanal 5 reality series Lite sällskap, hosted by Swedish comedians Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson were recorded in Säffle

Tourism

Sports associations

Säffle Hockey Club
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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 hock ...

SK Sifhälla
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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 ...

Säffle FF
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Art & museum

Viking Trail Society

The Viking center of Värmland
- The Viking museum outside Säffle

Trade & industry

The economy of Säffle is largely based on industry. Säffle has continued to grow as the pulpwood industry has expanded in Sweden. The pulp mill in Säffle has been a major driving force in the local economy. In the early 19th Century there was also a brickworks in Säffle, which supplied the town with facing bricks. This you can see on all of the buildings from this period in central Säffle. The biggest companies in Säffle today are:
SOMAS
Nordic Paper Seffle AB
Säffle Karosseri / Volvo Buses
BTG
CCI
MOELVEN

Famous people from Säffle

* Gunnar Andersson,

player * Daniel Carlsson,

rally car Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

driver * Anders Jacobsson, member of the gothic/doom metal band

Draconian Draconian is an adjective meaning "of great severity", that derives from Draco, an Athenian law scribe under whom small offenses had heavy punishments ( Draconian laws). Draconian may also refer to: * Draconian (band), a death/doom metal band fro ...

* Johan Ericson, multinstrumental musician member of

, Doom:VS and Shadowgarden *

Annichen Kringstad Annichen Kringstad (born 15 July 1960 in Oslo, Norway) is a Swedish orienteer Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terr ...

orienteer Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a ...

* Daniel Arvidsson, musician, member of

Esaias Tegnér Esaias Tegnér (; – ) was a Swedish writer, professor of the Greek language, and bishop. He was during the 19th century regarded as the father of modern poetry in Sweden, mainly through the national romantic epic ''Frithjof's Saga''. He has b ...

, writer and bishop *

Tina Thörner Maria Christina Thörner (born in Säffle, Sweden on February 24, 1966) is a Swedish rally co-driver. Tina Thörner's career in motor sports started in 1990. Since then, she has won three FIA Ladies' World Rally Championship titles, a third and ...

, rally car co-driver

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saffle Municipal seats of Värmland County Swedish municipal seats Populated places in Säffle Municipality Värmland