Västervik is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and the seat of

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

Kalmar County Kalmar County () is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Kronoberg County, Kronoberg, Jönköping County, Jönköping, Blekinge County, Blekinge and Östergötland County, Östergötland. To the ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, 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 Provinces of Sweden, 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 la ...

Climate

Västervik has a semi-continental type of the

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

( 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 cold ...

(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 corporation, multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool Corporation, Whi ...

, with associated job losses. Just outside Västervik, there is the static inverter of HVDC Gotland 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, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

festival A festival is an event 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, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

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

Sport and 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 musician, singer, songwriter, and producer best known as a member of the musical group ABBA. He is also the co-composer of the musicals ''Chess (musical), Chess'', ''Kristina från Duve ...

, a member of the internationally successful pop group

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

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. On the north western outskirts on the Stora Infartsvägen road, there is a speedway stadium known as the Ljungheden, where the Västervik Speedway team compete.

Other uses

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

Vaasa Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ),Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. 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 Swedes, 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. S ...

, author and feminist * Gottfrid Emanuel Lundberg,

Swedish-American Swedish Americans () are Americans of Swedish descent. The history of Swedish Americans dates back to the early colonial times, with notable migration waves occurring in the 19th and early 20th centuries and approximately 1.2 million arrivi ...

engraver *

, one of the four members of the pop group

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

, singer * John F. Carlson, Swedish-born American Impressionist artist *

Stefan Edberg Jan Stefan Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in both men's singles and men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), one of two players in the ...

, 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, 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. Här ...

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

Hootenanny Singers The Hootenanny Singers are a popular Folk music, folk group from Västervik, 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 ...

, manager of the annual music festival in Västervik *

Ola Källenius Sten Ola Källenius (born 11 June 1969) is a Swedish-German business executive. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of Management and CEO of the Mercedes-Benz Group. Källenius was the first non-German to hold both positions prior to obtaining ...

, Chairman of the Board of Management of

Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-B ...

, and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars in Stuttgart, Germany * Carl Rosenblad, racing driver *

Yngve Holm Yngve Robert Holm (12 September 1895 – 16 February 1943) was a Swedish sailor who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp ...

, sailor, 1920 Olympic gold medalist * Pehr Olsson, Swedish statesman and

Speaker of the Riksdag The speaker of the Riksdag () is the speaker (politics), presiding officer of the national unicameral legislature in Sweden. The Riksdag underwent profound changes in 1867, when the medieval Riksdag of the Estates was abolished. The new form of ...

* Erik Bladstrom, canoer and Olympian * Sven Johannson, canoer and Olympian

References

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