Landskrona

Landskrona
The old water tower in Landskrona is a landmark that can be seen from far away
Coat of arms
Landskrona Show map of Skåne Landskrona Show map of Sweden
Coordinates: 55°52′N 12°50′E / 55.867°N 12.833°E / 55.867; 12.833Coordinates: 55°52′N 12°50′E / 55.867°N 12.833°E / 55.867; 12.833
Country	Sweden
Province	Skåne
County	Skåne County
Municipality	Landskrona Municipality
Charter	15th century
Area[1]
• Total	12.09 km2 (4.67 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2010)[1]
• Total	30,499
• Density	2,524/km2 (6,540/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Landskrona is a late medieval town located at the shores of Øresund, founded at the location of the former Danish fishing village Sønder Sæby in the province of Scania by king Erik VII of Pomerania^[2] early in the 15th century.^[3] In 1720 the town, like its province, became a formal part of Sweden. Around the Castle build by Danish king Christian III in 1549, Landskrona Citadel,^[4] a huge system of moats emerged over the centuries, also in the town's Swedish history. Today the Citadel is famous for its well preserved moat system, which includes parts of four moats. At the northern part of the Citadel, Sweden's second, and today oldest allotment area is located. Its port is based on a natural chute in the sandy sea floor,^[5] despite the lack of any nearby debouching river.

The town is the seat of Landskrona Municipality. The town which in March 2013 celebrated its 600th birthday had close to 33,000 inhabitants at that time.^[6]

The town had for many years a car ferry line to Copenhagen (Tuborg harbour, 70 minutes)^[7][8][9] Landskrona is located close to the Danish Capital. From Rådhustorget (Town Hall Square) in Landskrona to Amalienborg Royal Palace in central Copenhagen, the crow flight distance is around 22-23 km. In the later parts of the 19th century the town was transformed from a military settlement to a heavy industrial town. Between 1917 and 1983 Öresundsvarvet shipyard had up to 3,500 employees,^[10] but the town also had large manufacturers in the chemical and textile industry sectors. The football club Landskrona BoIS, which has participated in either of the top two Swedish league divisions during all but five seasons, ever since the Swedish football league system began in 1924-25, has always been important for the town and its inhabitants.

History

Landskrona Citadel

The city of Landskrona was founded at the location of Scania's (at that time a part of Denmark) best natural harbour, this an example of King Eric of Pomerania's anti-Hanseatic policy intended to compete with Danish towns under Hanseatic control. The foundation was done at a place for a fishing settlement, historically described as Sønder Sæby ("sønder" means "southern"). Today, there is still a very small settlement just north of the town, known as Säby (Sæby in Danish). This probably was the Nørre Sæby ("nørre" means "northern") in the beginning of the 15th century, but since the southern village became the town, the need for distinguishing northern and southern Sæby disappeared. The original name of the officially founded town was Landszcrone. But changed to Landskrone sometime before 1450.^[11][12]

A Carmelite monastery was founded in 1410, English merchants were granted the privileges in a royal charter in 1412, and the town itself was chartered in 1413. The monastery was closed by King Christian III after the reformation. A smaller street is named after this very contemplative and closed order, "Karmelitergatan". Around 1960 did a convent return to the countryside 8–9 km north of the town centre,^[13] it is located on the south side of a road which constitutes the boundary between Landskrona and Helsingborg municipalities. The closest settlement Rydebäck belongs to the neighbouring city, but the convent is entirely located within Landskrona's countryside.^[14] The corresponding monastery is located in Norraby. This is located east of the town and its quite small countryside.

The town supported the king Christian II (1525), and opposed the Reformation in Denmark (1535), and in both cases found itself among the defeated. The Reformist King Christian III of Denmark opted not to retaliate against the town, and instead founded a castle to protect the harbour. The castle, built where the monastery had been situated until the Reformation (which reached Denmark in 1536), was completed by 1559.^[15]

Street in the old part of the city near the center of the city.

When Scania had been ceded to Sweden in 1658, the good harbour and the strong fort were reasons for plans to make Landskrona a commercial center of the acquired territory, with extraordinary privileges for foreign trade. The castle was reinforced by bastions, and the area inside the moats extended to 400x400 meters. The castle was considered the strongest and most modern in Scandinavia, but was temporarily lost to the Danes after a comparably short siege July 8-August 2, 1676. The commandant Colonel Hieronymus Lindeberg was consequently sentenced to death for high treason.^[4]

Any further plans for Landskrona were however not realized, for various reasons. The continued Swedish-Danish wars favoured Karlskrona, located at a safer distance from Denmark, replacing Landskrona as a naval base, and as such the fortifications were discontinued. Malmö remained the most important commercial town, despite Malmö lacking a harbour until the late 18th century. The fortifications at Landskrona were expanded considerably between 1747 and 1788, but were condemned in 1822, whereafter the garrison was abolished in 1869. The last military regiment, Skånska Husarregimentet, K5 was renamed and moved from Landskrona ^[16] (and neighbouring city Helsingborg) in the mid-1920s, to Uppsala^[17] In 1753 the Swedish military commander suddenly feared that the tower of Sancti Johannis Baptistae church could be a threat to the Citadel and demanded a demolition of the church ^[18] Even though the cornerstone of a new church was laid the following year, the Sofia Albertina Church (by Carl Hårleman) wasn't inaugurated until 1788. And first by 1812 it was finished.^[18][18] Possibly as a compensation for the medieval and much larger old church, the new one got two towers. Which is considered rare for a non-Bishop seat church.

The walls and moats of the fortifications of Landskrona Citadel are today a recreational area. On its northern side, an allotment-garden area of cottages was founded in the final years of the 19th century. It's the oldest of its kind in Sweden today.^[19]

The town grew quickly after the industrial revolution and subsequent urbanization. During the first World War a large shipyard, Öresundsvarvet was constructed, but after the war the fast growing of Landskrona slowed, while nearby towns like Helsingborg, Lund and Malmö continued to grow. In the mid-1970s the shipyard had more than 3,500 people employed, this in a town with only 30,000 inhabitants (38,000 in the broader municipality). The shipyard was closed down in stages, and the very end came in 1983.^[10]

Between 1930 and 1939 were the Saxtorp TT-races held, just south of the town. These motorcycle races are considered the largest sporting events by crowd ever held in Sweden, as the events gathered up to 160.000 attenders ^[20][21]

Townscape

The town's centre and buildings along the entrance streets generally consists of buildings with between two and seven floors. Some of the buildings may give an impression of the town being larger than it actually is. Landskrona was also relatively larger today compared with a century ago. Between approx. 1880 and 1920 was the town transformed from a military town to a town with much heavy industry within many sectors. The Öresundsvarvet shipyard opened in 1917 became the largest employer (with close to 4000 employees in the early 1970s). But the industry was not limited to shipbuilding, and a sugar refinery, several textile industries, fertilizers and other chemical plants, as well as a spectrum of various manufacturing industries, grew up. But after the First World War, the town stopped growing as fast as many other Swedish towns did. And the very last military regiment moved to Hässleholm in 1924. Between the mid 1920s and mid 1970s the town grew from approx. 20.000 inabitants to 30.000. And after the Swedish municipality reforms reached its end point, in 1974, the municipality counted around 38.000 inhabitants.^[22]

During "The Demolition Rampage Era", in Sweden a period between 1955 and 1975, when the word "old" in general meant "bad", in the context of architecture. Typically department stores and parking houses replaced older buildings in town and city centres. Landskrona was relatively spared from this, but not entirely. Around "Rådhustorget", the Town Hall Square all but one building are build before Le Corbusier's Functionalism became popular. Most demolished buildings were low or of minor architectural value, but "Falcks hörna" (a block corner building with a rather unusual look) was considered a loss to the town in 1971. Pictures exists here (the magnificent building) and at (the police attended demolition).

As a fortified town, stone houses were early preferred instead of wooden houses. Hence few examples of traditional Danish and Scanian half-timbered houses exists. Apart from the Castle (the actual building at the Citadel) and Sofia Albertina Church, other notable 19th-century or older buildings are "Rådhuset", the Town Hall, Landskrona Museum, the old Railway station building and the Theatre.

By 1901 the town employed its first town architect, and much of the town's central parts, and buildings along the (partly former) entrance roads are characterized by the former town architechts Fredrik Sundbärg 1901-1913^[23] and Frans Ekelund 1913-1949.^[24][25] Sundberg created a number of monumental buildings like the old Water tower, the remarkable school "Tuppaskolan", the power station and a hot bathhouse (which though was demolished in the 1970s), as well as two large block of flats Falken and Gripen, mainly intended for the working class.^[23]

Frans Ekelund restored this half-timbered building in the harbour of Landskrona. The building style is traditional for Scania, but in Landskrona there are few such buildings. Pure stone houses were preferred as the town was fortified.

Ekelund, who was a believer in "Trädgårdsstaden" or Garden City, created areas within for own homes whithin the town limits.^[24] Ralph Erskine created the row house area called "Esperanza" (Spanish for hope) around 1970. In that year also the "UFO-inspired" new Water Tower was taken into operation. No real monumental building has been build since then. Not even the new railway station can be considered as a such building.

Transport

Landskrona railway station

By the sea side. Danish Capital Copenhagen seen from Landskrona

The town has a smaller passenger and car ferry connection to the island of Ven, which departures 9 times every day during most of the year. During July and August this number is increased.^[26]

In January 2001, a new railway station opened in Landskrona on the West Coast railway between Lund and Gothenburg along the Swedish west coast. This was very important for the town, since the old station was a terminal for southbound trains only. The new station is along the high-speed dual track railway line between Copenhagen and Helsingborg (where the high speed and dual tracks vanishes for almost 30 km). All local Pågatågen trains and inter-regional Øresundståg trains stop at the station. Weekdays 4-6 trains in each direction every hour. The connection between the new station and the city centre, "the Station Shuttle," has been operated with trolleybuses since autumn of 2003. The "shuttle" runs between the new railway station and the ferry terminal in the harbour. This includes 4-5 stops in between, and one of the bus stops are located at "Rådhustorget" or The Court Square, which with surrounding streets forms the town centre.

It's a bit cheaper and not too uncomfortable, to travel to Copenhagen also with northbound trains to Helsingborg and there transfer to the ferries to Elsinore, and then travel southbound again. The time this route takes depends on how long one has to wait for the ferry and train at Danish side, but as the ferries at the HH Ferry route departures every 15th minute in each direction,^[27] and the trains from Elsinore to Copenhagen departures every 20th minute, so such waiting times are usually low. A special ticket "Öresund Rundt" (Around Øresund) is the cheapest return ticket possible, except for daily commuters. (By autumn 2014 priced to 249 SEK.^[28]) The ticket gives free local transport in Copenhagen (zones 1,2 & 3) and is valid for two days. The only obstacle is that one has to use the bridge in one direction and the ferries the opposite way.^[28]

The New Water Tower

History of the Øresund traffic

For many years, Landskrona was serviced by car ferries and other ships to and from Copenhagen. From 1951 to 1980 did the SL ferries operate the route between Port of Tuborg in northern Copenhagen and Landskrona. During a larger part of that period, also the Viking Bådene ^{[29][30][31][32]} operated smaller passenger ships between the inner port of Copenhagen harbour. They were owned in Denmark 19 From around 1970 they were purchased by the Swedish Centrumlinjen but kept their name. The 1973 energy crisis eventually caused the end of this shipping line.^[33]

Between 1980 and 1984 different kind of ships and shipping lines offered at least summer time traffic to Copenhagen. And From 1985 Scarlett Line was formed, and once again sailed to Port of Tuborg. From the spring of 1991 did Danish Vognmandsruten A/S merge with Scarlett Line, maintained the established name and began to sail every hour. The new shipping line mainly was intended to live on transport of lorries. In the autumn of 1993 Vognmandsruten A/S went bankrupt and this put an end to the car and lorry ferry traffic from Landskrona.

However hydrofoilic speedboats Flygbåtarna AB, which previously only had served passenger traffic in the southern part of Øresund, between Malmö and Copenhagen, now began to operate also from both Landskrona as well as from Helsingborg. Not until March 2002, almost two years after the inauguration of the Øresund Bridge did Flygbåtarna AB threw in the towel.^[34][35]

Copenhagen Airport influence

By train it takes 50 minutes to Copenhagen Airport, as it is referred to locally, – the largest in Scandinavia and Finland. Unless the wind conditions do not suit landings at Runway 22L. In fact 65.8% of all landings at Copenhagen take place at Runway 22L (220 degrees, left runway).^[36] During rush hours at the Danish airport, the aircraft's path down to Runway 22L becomes a longer and longer arch or bow. More traffic means a longer arch, and during traffic peaks all aircraft are coming in above the northern part of the town, where they make a sharp right turn towards the south. (Actually within aviation, the longest approach is considered "standard". But if a single plane wants to land in the middle of the night, that aircraft will be allowed to land more or less as pleases its captain. In high traffic this is of course not possible.) Around Barsebäck 9 nautical miles to the south, the localiser can be intercepted and the runway in question is located straight ahead ^[37] The aircraft have around 5 minutes to go, when they turn over Landskrona. When they use the path to 22L above Landskrona, the time distance between every aircraft may shrink down to less than a minute between each aircraft.

Sports

The following sports clubs are located in Landskrona:

• Landskrona BoIS (association football)

See also

• List of Swedish wars
• Ven, Sweden
• List of cities with trolleybuses

References

External links

• Landskrona Municipality - Official site
• Landskrona Trolleybus - Pictures from the construction of the trolleybus line (in Swedish)
• Landskrona Posten - Local Newspaper

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Landskrona.

Municipalities and seats of Skåne County
Municipalities	Ängelholm Åstorp Båstad Bjuv Bromölla Burlöv Eslöv Hässleholm Helsingborg Höganäs Höör Hörby Kävlinge Klippan Kristianstad Landskrona Lomma Lund Malmö Örkelljunga Osby Östra Göinge Perstorp Simrishamn Sjöbo Skurup Staffanstorp Svalöv Svedala Tomelilla Trelleborg Vellinge Ystad
Municipal seats	Ängelholm Arlöv Åstorp Båstad Bjuv Broby Bromölla Eslöv Hässleholm Helsingborg Höganäs Höör Hörby Kävlinge Klippan Kristianstad Landskrona Lomma Lund Malmö Örkelljunga Osby Perstorp Simrishamn Sjöbo Skurup Staffanstorp Svalöv Svedala Tomelilla Trelleborg Vellinge Ystad
Counties of Sweden Sweden