Härnösand () 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

Härnösand Municipality Härnösand Municipality ( sv, Härnösands kommun) is a municipality in Västernorrland County, northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Härnösand (pop. 18,000). The present municipality was formed in 1969 through the amalgamation of the ''Cit ...

Västernorrland County Västernorrland County ( sv, Västernorrlands län) is a county ('' län'') in the north of Sweden. It is bordered by the counties of Gävleborg, Jämtland, Västerbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia. The name ''Västernorrland'' means "Western ...

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 17,556 inhabitants in 2010. It is called "the gate to the

High Coast The High Coast ( sv, Höga Kusten) is a part of the coast of Sweden on the Gulf of Bothnia, in the Ångermanland province of northeast Sweden, centered in the area of the municipalities of Kramfors, Härnösand, Sollefteå and Örnsköldsvik. It ...

" because of the world heritage landscape just a few miles north of Härnösand. Härnösand is the seat of the

Diocese of Härnösand The Diocese of Härnösand ( sv, Härnösands stift) is a division in the Church of Sweden in Västernorrland County. The Cathedral is located at Trädgårdsgatan in Härnösand. History The diocese was established in 1647. In 1904, the diocese o ...

History

On 10 December 1885, Härnösand became the first town in Sweden with electric street lighting, following the Gådeå power station being taken into use.

Education

Härnösand is the seat of The National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools (''Specialpedagogiska skolmyndigheten''). The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) operates its training programme Sida Partnership Forum in Härnösand.

Industry

One of the biggest employers in Härnösand is the cable-TV and

Cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

Com Hem Com Hem was a Swedish brand owned by Tele2 AB which supplied Triple Play services that included cable television, broadband internet and fixed-line telephone. Founded in 1983 as Televerket Kabel-TV as part of the former state-owned Televerke ...

Sports

The women's team of the

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

club

Härnösands AIK Härnösands AIK is a sports club in Härnösand, Sweden, established in 1945 and originally thought to be called BK Virgo but required to change name because the other name was already used. Active within bandy, the club earlier even ran socce ...

plays in the highest division and the men's team has done. Their handballteam plays in division 2 and is called Brännans IF. The football club IF Älgarna plays in Division 2 Norrland. Curling has also been a successful sport in the city, Team Anette Norberg is from here. Anette has taken several medals in the sport, including Olympic gold. It is perhaps therefore not surprising that Sweden's only curling high school is located here. The high school started at 1989 and has since contributed several talented curlers to the world. Härnösand also has an ice hockey team AIK Hockey Härnösand that plays in division 1 in region norr. That is where goaltender Anton Forsberg (

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

) started his career.

Recreation

Härnösand is a fairly small town and some of the activities young people engage in are Kåken (), a youth centre provided by the municipality. The city also has an extensive selection of outdoor activities in the summer and wintertime. Wintertime people can go

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...

( cross country and downhill), ice skating, etc. Summertime activities include climbing, kayaking, trekking, etc. The town also features a summertime beach Smitingen, which occasionally gets some surfable waves. Härnösand is each summer the site of one of the world's largest

airsoft Airsoft is a team game in which participants eliminate opposing players by tagging them out of play with spherical plastic projectiles shot with mock air weapons(usually powered by an electronic motor) called airsoft guns. Although similar ...

events, Berget.

Climate

Härnösand has 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 freezing ...

(

Dfb DFB may refer to: * Deerfield Beach, Florida, a city * Decafluorobutane, a fluorocarbon gas * Dem Franchize Boyz, former hip hop group, Atlanta, Georgia * Dfb, Köppen climate classification for Humid continental climate * Distributed-feedback ...

) with significant maritime influence, causing mild to warm summers and cold but not severe winters that are milder than areas further north. In the

Kvarken Kvarken ( sv, Kvarken, Norra Kvarken (as opposed to South Kvarken); ) is the narrow region of the Gulf of Bothnia separating the Bothnian Bay (the inner part of the gulf) from the Bothnian Sea. The distance from the Swedish mainland to the Finn ...

area and further north the water is less salty and freezes easier, creating colder winter climate.

Notable natives

Alfhild Agrell Alfhild Teresia Agrell (14 January 1849 – 8 November 1923) was a Swedish writer and playwright. She is known for her works about sexual equality in opposition to the contemporary sexual double standard, and as such a participator in the fa ...

, writer and playwright *

Anders Jonas Ångström Anders Jonas Ångström (; 13 August 181421 June 1874) was a Swedish physicist and one of the founders of the science of spectroscopy.P.Murdin (2000): "Angstrom" chapter in ''Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics''. Ångström is also wel ...

, physicist *

Albert Atterberg Albert Mauritz Atterberg (19 March 1846 – 4 April 1916) was a Swedish chemist and agricultural scientist who created the Atterberg limits, which are commonly referred to by geotechnical engineers and engineering geologists today. In Sweden he ...

, soil mechanics * Bo Holmberg, politician *

Carl Gustaf Nordin Carl Gustaf Nordin (born 2 January 1749 in Stockholm, died 14 March 1812 in Härnösand) was a Swedish statesman, historian and ecclesiastic. Early life In 1774, he was made docent of Gothic antiquities at Uppsala University in consequence of hi ...

, statesman * Ulf Sandström, Ice Hockey player *

Nils Bohlin Nils Ivar Bohlin (17 July 1920 – 21 September 2002) was a Swedish mechanical engineer and inventor who invented the three-point safety belt while working at Volvo. Biography Born in Härnösand, Sweden, Bohlin received a diploma in mechan ...

, inventor *

Anette Norberg Anette Norberg (born 12 November 1966) is a retired Swedish curler from Härnösand. She and her team were the Olympic women's curling champions in 2006 and 2010. After winning the 2006 Women's Curling tournament in Turin over Mirjam Ott's Sw ...

, women's

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

Olympic gold medalist * Lubbe Nordström, writer/poet *

Frideborg Winblad Frideborg Winblad (January 18, 1869 – November 30, 1964) was an elementary school teacher in Härnösand, Sweden, who went on to become Sweden's first female educational administrator. Early life Frideborg was the daughter of Anton Juli ...

, educator and administrator *

Lena Endre Lena Endre (born 8 July 1955) is a Swedish actress of film and television,* primarily in the Swedish and Norwegian markets, known for her parts in the Liv Ullmann film '' Trolösa'' (2000), and the ''Millennium series'' of films (e.g., ''The Gir ...

, Actor *

Lasse Lindh Lasse Lindh (born 27 March 1974) is a Swedish indie pop musician. His debut album, ''Bra'', came out on EMI in 1998, and featured three charting singles in Sweden. Lindh began singing in English for his second album, ''You Wake Up at Sea Tac'' (t ...

, Musician *Håkan Ekström, Forestry Consultant *

Monica Sjöö Monica Sjöö (31 December 1938 – 8 August 2005) was a Swedish-born British-based painter, writer and Radical feminism, radical Anarcha-feminism, anarcho/ Ecofeminism, eco-feminist who was an early exponent of the Goddess movement. Her books ...

, (December 31, 1938 – August 8, 2005), Swedish painter, writer and a radical anarcho/ eco-feminist and an exponent of the Goddess movement. *

Tomas Fischer Tomas Jörgen Fischer (1 December 1940 – 15 August 2022) was a Swedish book publisher and businessman. Biography Fischer was born in Härnösand, and later grew up in Sundsvall. He began to work with financier Erik Penser. With Penser, th ...

, book publisher and businessman

References

External links

Härnösand official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harnosand Härnösand County seats in Sweden Coastal cities and towns in Sweden Populated places in Härnösand Municipality Ångermanland Municipal seats of Västernorrland County Swedish municipal seats Diocese of Härnösand Cities in Västernorrland County