Trollhättan () is the
23rd-largest city in
Sweden, the seat of
Trollhättan Municipality
Trollhättan Municipality (''Trollhättans kommun'' or ''Trollhättans stad'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Trollhättan.
The municipality was created gradually in 1967, 1971 ...
,
Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) 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 ...
. It is situated by
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 ...
, near the lake
Vänern
Vänern ( , also , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake of all Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland i ...
, and has a population of approximately 50,000 in the
city proper
A city proper is the geographical area contained within city limits. The term ''proper'' is not exclusive to cities; it can describe the geographical area within the boundaries of any given locality. The United Nations defines the term as "the sin ...
. It is located 75 km (46 mi) north of Sweden's second-largest city,
Gothenburg.
History
Trollhättan was granted
city rights (which today have no legal effect) in 1916 at
which time it had about 15,000 inhabitants, now grown to 59,058.
Trollhättan was founded on the river
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 ...
, at the
Trollhättan Falls
Trollhättan Falls is a waterfall in the Göta river (Göta älv) in Sweden.
The falls starts at Malgö Bridge in central Trollhättan, and has a total height of 32 metres, making up a large part of the 44 metre total fall of the river from V ...
. The site was first mentioned in literature from 1413.
Trollhättan had a strategic significance on the road between Västergötland and Norway. It was also of a commercial and political significance for shipping to and from
Vänern
Vänern ( , also , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake of all Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland i ...
.
Utilization of the river falls was the first important business activity in the area. From the Middle Ages milling and sawing operations have been conducted where the city center is now located. For centuries, Trollhättan Falls was an obstacle for boats travelling the river, until a
lock
Lock(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
*Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance
*Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lock ...
system was completed in the 19th century. In 1795 the English writer
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft (, ; 27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationsh ...
visited Trollhattan on her trip through Sweden, Norway and Denmark. She described in one of her letters her observations of the canal under construction, and the falls. It has since been updated several times, and the present locks were finished in 1916. In the late 19th century,
hydropower
Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a w ...
was developed in Trollhättan. The Swedish energy corporation
Vattenfall took its name from the falls in Trollhättan. Today the city has two operational hydropower stations,
Olidan and
Hojum.
Name
The name ''Trollhättan'' itself was originally used only for the falls area. The name ''Trollhättan'' is translated as "
troll
A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human be ...
's
bonnet
A Bonnet is a variety of headgear, hat or cap
Specific types of headgear referred to as "bonnets" may include
Scottish
* Blue bonnet, a distinctive woollen cap worn by men in Scotland from the 15th-18th centuries And its derivations:
** Fea ...
". The latter part "''hätta''" could also mean mountain top. The water that splashed from a large rock at the bottom of the waterfall (before the hydro dam was built) was imagined to look like a troll's hat.
Other former names of the site are ''Eiðar'' and ''Stora Edet''; the latter lives on in the name of the south-bordering municipality of
Lilla Edet
Lilla Edet is a locality and the seat of Lilla Edet Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 4,862 inhabitants in 2010.
Lilla Edet was the smallest of three settlements that were burnt down in Sweden on 25 June 1888. The wooden to ...
.
Sticker on Saab car window
Industry
The manufacturing company
Nydqvist & Holm AB
NOHAB (Nydqvist & Holm AB) was a manufacturing company based in the city of Trollhättan, Sweden.
History
The company was founded by Antenor Nydqvist, Johan Magnus Lidström and Carl Olof Holm in 1847 as ''Trollhättans Mekaniska Verkstad'' as ...
(now NOHAB) was based in the city of Trollhättan dating from 1847. Further industries quickly followed. Dating from the 19th century, Trollhättan formerly housed the headquarters and main production plant of
Saab Automobile and now houses the headquarters and a production plant of
National Electric Vehicle Sweden
NEVS AB (an abbreviated form of "National Electric Vehicle Sweden") is a Swedish electric car manufacturer which acquired the assets of Saab Automobile from a bankruptcy estate in 2012. NEVS is the trademark of the company's products including ...
(NEVS). It also has a number of industrial facilities, headed by
GKN Aerospace
GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 an ...
(previously known as
Volvo Aero
Volvo Aero was a Swedish aircraft, guided missiles and rocket engine manufacturer. It became ''GKN Aerospace Engine Systems'' following the company's acquisition by British engineering conglomerate GKN during 2012.
It was originally establi ...
) and its contractual suppliers. As with parallel locations elsewhere in Europe, much of its production has moved from
heavy industry
Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...
to
professional services
Professional services are occupations in the service sector requiring special training in the arts or sciences. Some professional services, such as architects, accountants, engineers, doctors, and lawyers require the practitioner to hold profe ...
and the creation of
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
.
As of 2011 Trollhättan hosts a film production complex known as
Trollywood; movies shot there include ''
Show Me Love'' (''Fucking Åmål''), ''
Dancer in the Dark
''Dancer in the Dark'' is a 2000 musical drama film written and directed by Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. It stars Icelandic musician Björk as a factory worker who suffers from a degenerative eye condition and is saving for an operation to p ...
'', ''
Melancholia
Melancholia or melancholy (from el, µέλαινα χολή ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly d ...
'', ''
Dogville
''Dogville'' is a 2003 avant-garde drama film written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring an ensemble cast led by Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Paul Bettany, Chloë Sevigny, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, Ben Gazzara, Harriet Anderss ...
'' and studio scenes for ''
Lilya 4-ever
''Lilya 4-ever'' ( sv, Lilja 4-ever) is a 2002 crime drama film written and directed by Lukas Moodysson, which was released in Sweden on 23 August 2002. It depicts the downward spiral of Lilja Michailova, played by Oksana Akinshina, a girl in ...
''. The movie studio
Film i Väst
Film i Väst (English: "Film in West") is a film company located in Trollhättan, Sweden, nicknamed "Trollywood"), founded in 1992 by the Älvsborg County Council. Lars von Trier used its facilities in his movies, such as ''Dogville'' and ''Mand ...
centered here produces about half of the Swedish feature-length films.
Trollhätte Canal
During the 17th century, work on a system of locks began and the first lock was completed around 1607 at
Lilla Edet
Lilla Edet is a locality and the seat of Lilla Edet Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 4,862 inhabitants in 2010.
Lilla Edet was the smallest of three settlements that were burnt down in Sweden on 25 June 1888. The wooden to ...
. During the 18th century several unsuccessful attempts were made to complete the locks. In 1718 a contract was signed by the government and
Christopher Polhem
Christopher Polhammar (18 December 1661 – 30 August 1751) better known as Christopher Polhem (), which he took after his ennoblement in 1716, was a Swedish scientist, inventor and industrialist. He made significant contributions to the econom ...
(1661–1751) for construction of a canal between
Kattegatt
The Kattegat (; sv, Kattegatt ) is a sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Skåne in Sweden i ...
and Lake
Vänern
Vänern ( , also , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake of all Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland i ...
and from Vättern to 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 ...
. Trollhätte Canal first begun construction in 1718. In 1800,
Baltzar von Platen (1766–1829) completed the locks. Larger locks were later built under
Nils Ericson
Nils is a Scandinavian given name, a chiefly Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Latvian variant of Niels, cognate to Nicholas.
People and animals with the given name
* Nils Bergström (born 1985), Swedish ice hockey player
* Nils Björk (1898–1989) ...
(1802–1870). The further construction of the
Göta Canal
The Göta Canal ( sv, Göta kanal) is a Swedish canal constructed in the early 19th century.
The canal is long, of which were dug or blasted, with a width varying between and a maximum depth of about .Uno Svedin, Britt Hägerhäll Anianss ...
enabled larger boats to pass through Trollhätte Canal.
Trollhättan Church
Trollhättan Church (''Trollhättans Kyrka'') belongs to the Trollhättan congregation in the
Diocese of Skara
The Diocese of Skara ( sv, Skara stift) is the oldest existing diocese in Sweden, originally a Latin bishopric of the Roman Catholic church, and since Protestant reformation a Lutheran diocese of the Church of Sweden (the former state church of S ...
. Between 1860 and 1862, the New Trollhätte Canal Company (''Nya Trollhätte Kanalbolag'') built Trollhättan church. It was inauguration in 1862 and was handed over to the congregation as a gift. The church is erected in a neo-Gothic style after drawings by architect
Adolf W. Edelsvärd (1824–1919). It consists of a longhouse with a north–south orientation. To the south is the tower with main entrance and to the north there is a polygonal cairn. It is located on a cliff in the Göta River in the middle of the canal system.
At the expense of the canal company, a sacristy was built in the north-west in 1896–1897 with a rise to the pulpit, and the same year came glass paintings designed by Folke Zettervall (1862–1955). The window paintings in the choir, which was installed in 1962, are done by artist Ralph Bergholtz (1908-1988). The church was restored in 1983–84 with Jerk Alton as architect.
Sports
Trollhättan hosted Division B of the
2017 Bandy World Championship
Seventeen or 17 may refer to:
*17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18
* one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017
Literature
Magazines
* ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine
* ''Seventeen'' (Japanese ...
.
World Championship Bandy 2017
/ref>
The following sports clubs are located in Trollhättan:
* IFK Trollhättan
IFK Trollhättan is a Swedish football club located in Trollhättan in Västra Götaland County.
Background
Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Trollhättan were founded on 15 October 1920. Olle Bengtsson, who later became famous as a boxer, played fo ...
* FC Trollhättan
* Skoftebyns IF
Skoftebyns IF is a Swedish football club located in Trollhättan in Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden.
The county is the second most popu ...
* Gripen Trollhättan BK
Gallery
Trollhättans Kyrka.jpg, Trollhättan Church
Trollhattefallen.jpg, Trollhättan Falls
Olidans kraftstation, Trollhättan.jpg, Olidan Hydropower Station
Neue Schleuse (1916), Trollhätte-Kanal.jpg, Trollhättan Canal
Trollhättan Water Tower.jpg, Trollhättan Water Tower
See also
* Olidan Hydroelectric Power Station
* Saab Car Museum
* University College West
References
External links
Trollhättan City Website in English
Visit Trollhättan Vänersborg
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trollhattan
Municipal seats of Västra Götaland County
Swedish municipal seats
Populated places in Västra Götaland County
Populated places in Trollhättan Municipality
*
Cities in Västra Götaland County
nn:Trollhättans kommun