Västervik 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 ...

and the seat of

Västervik Municipality Västervik Municipality (Swedish: ''Västerviks kommun'') is a municipality in Kalmar County, south-eastern Sweden, with its seat in the city of Västervik. The present municipality was created in 1971, when the former ''City of Västervik'' was ...

Kalmar County Kalmar County () is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Kronoberg, Jönköping, Blekinge and Östergötland. To the east in the Baltic Sea is the island Gotland. The counties are mainly administrative units. Geo ...

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 36,747 inhabitants in 2021. Västervik is one of three coastal towns with a notable population size in the province of

Småland Småland () is a historical province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means ''Small Lands''. The Latinized fo ...

Climate

Västervik has a semi-continental type of the

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

( Cfb) using the -3°C isotherm, and a true

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 freezing ...

(Dfb) using the 0°C isotherm, with vast differences between seasons. The major weather station in the area is in Gladhammar west of Västervik. Differences are likely to be minor, with precipitation normals being available in greater detail for Västervik's station. Overnight lows may be the biggest difference, due Västervik's coastal position.

Economy

The city still bases much of its industry on its harbour, and on the industries that were established as a result of it in the late 19th century. Västervik has suffered the closure of certain factories, notably

Electrolux Electrolux AB () is a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool. Electrolux products sell under a variety ...

, with associated job losses. Just outside Västervik, there is the static inverter of

HVDC Gotland The HVDC Gotland, on the Swedish east coast, was the first fully commercial static plant for high-voltage direct current transmission (HVDC) in the world. Gotland 1 The first HVDC Gotland link (Gotland 1) went into service in 1954. It could tr ...

and Fårhultsmasten, a 335 m tall guyed mast used for FM/TV-transmission, which shares with three other masts the title of Sweden's tallest structure.

Culture

Every year since 1966 there is a

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

in Västervik, at the ruins of the Stegeholm castle. The area has artistic talent by artists, potters, craft people and painters.

Recreation

Being a summer town popular with yachtspeople, campers, daytrippers, and returning former residents, Västervik experiences an annual revival in July. Västervik offers an outdoor life of climbing, canoeing and sailing or islands to visit and stay at.

Björn Ulvaeus Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, producer, a member of the musical group ABBA, and co-composer of the musicals ''Chess'', '' Kristina från Duvemåla'', and '' Mamma Mia!'' He co-produced the films ...

, a member of the internationally successful pop group

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

who grew up in Västervik, is building a complex consisting of hotel, restaurant, and apartments in the bay near Stegeholm castle, which will be a tourist attraction for Västervik.

Other uses

Västervik is also the name of a small village 8 km north of

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. The name just means "western bay", so there could be more minor localities by that name.

People

Ellen Key Ellen Karolina Sofia Key (; 11 December 1849 – 25 April 1926) was a Swedish difference feminist writer on many subjects in the fields of family life, ethics and education and was an important figure in the Modern Breakthrough movement. She was ...

, author and feminist * Gottfrid Emanuel Lundberg,

Swedish-American Swedish Americans ( sv, svenskamerikaner) are Americans of Swedish ancestry. They include the 1.2 million Swedish immigrants during 1865–1915, who formed tight-knit communities, as well as their descendants and more recent immigrants. Today, ...

engraver *

, one of the four members of the pop group

Alice Babs Hildur Alice Nilsson (26 January 1924 – 11 February 2014), known by her stage name Alice Babs, was a Swedish singer and actress. She worked in a wide number of genres – Swedish folklore, Elizabethan songs and opera. While she was best known i ...

, singer *

John F. Carlson John Fabian Carlson (May 5, 1875 – May 19, 1947) was a Swedish-born American Impressionist painter. Background John Fabian Carlson was born in Kolsebo in Västervik Municipality, Kalmar County, in Småland, Sweden. The Carlson family immigrat ...

, Swedish-born American Impressionist artist *

Stefan Edberg Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 1985 ...

, tennis player *

Ulf Grenander Ulf Grenander (23 July 1923 – 12 May 2016) was a Swedish statistician and professor of applied mathematics at Brown University. His early research was in probability theory, stochastic processes, time series analysis, and statistical theory (pa ...

, statistician, probabilist, and computer scientist. *

Gösta Bernhard Gösta Bernhard (26 September 1910 – 4 January 1986) was a Swedish actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in more than 30 films between 1936 and 1975. He also directed 17 films between 1947 and 1975. He was born in Västervik, ...

, actor and film director *

Magnus Härenstam Johan Herbert Magnus Härenstam (19 June 1941 – 13 June 2015) was a Swedish television host, actor and comedian. Härenstam hosted the Swedish version of the game-show ''Jeopardy!'' for 14 years before being replaced by Adam Alsing. Hären ...

, comedian, actor and TV host * Hansi Schwarz, musician and band member of

Hootenanny Singers The Hootenanny Singers were a popular folk group from Sweden, founded in 1961. The group included Björn Ulvaeus, who later became a member of ABBA. Other band members were Johan Karlberg (b. Karl Johan Hilding Karlberg, 14 April 1943, Vimme ...

. Manager of the annual music festival in Västervik *

Ola Källenius Sten Ola Källenius (born 11 June 1969) is a Swedish business executive. He is the chairman of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group, and CEO of Mercedes-Benz. He is the first non-German in both positions. Education Källenius graduat ...

, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars in Stuttgart, Germany

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vastervik Populated places in Kalmar County Coastal cities and towns in Sweden Populated places in Västervik Municipality Municipal seats of Kalmar County Swedish municipal seats fi:Västervikin kunta