Kristianstad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kristianstad IPA: [kri'ɧansta] is a Swedish city situated at 56°02′N 14°11′E in Scania in southernmost Sweden. It has around 31,000 inhabitants, but including surrounding towns, villages and countryside the Kristianstad Municipality has 75,000 inhabitants.

It is the seat of the Skåne Regional Council.

Kristianstad's coat of arms is the only known coat of arms in the world depicting a foreign king's or queen's coat of arms. It is the coat of arms of king Christian IV of Denmark. Kristianstad is often called "the King's Village" by its inhabitants and visiting Danes, just as Copenhagen is called "the Queen's Village" by Danes. Kristianstad markets itself as "the most Danish city in Sweden". There is a Danish consulate in the city center which always flies a big Danish flag.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Industry
4 Notable natives
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Geography

Part of Kristianstad constitutes the lowest point in Sweden, 2.41 meters below sea level. Dams and pumps are in function to protect the city from floods from the river Helgeån and the lake Hammarsjön.

[edit] History

The city was founded in 1614 as Christiansstad by King Christian IV of Denmark, in order to guard the eastern half of the Danish province of Scania against any future raids from Sweden. One of these raids had sacked the nearby town of Væ in 1612. Væ then lost its charter and the people were moved to the new, better fortified city. The king also founded the town of Christianopel in eastern Blekinge to serve a similar purpose.

Heliga Trefaldighetskyrkan

Construction of the towns was a great prestige project for the king, and Kristianstad's church (in Danish: Trefoldighedskirken; in Swedish: Heliga Trefaldighetskyrkan) is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful buildings constructed by King Christian IV, or even northern Europe's most beautiful Renaissance church.

The city's coat of arms depicts two lions holding the King's crowned insignia, the monogram C4. The coat of arms was only slightly modified after the Swedish takeover following the 1658 Treaty of Roskilde in which the eastern third of Denmark was ceded to Sweden. Ironically, Kristianstad is thereby the only city in the world carrying the insignia of a foreign monarch.^{[citation needed]} The coat of arms is very similar to the coat of arms of the former town of Christianopel in eastern Blekinge, a town also founded by Christian IV.

A group of local citizens are lobbying for the city to return to its original name.

[edit] Industry

Absolut Vodka, owned by V&S Group, is produced by the town of Åhus located in the municipality. Kristianstad was the main military seat in Scania for a long time, boosting military camps and trainings. After the reforms and military cutbacks of the 1990's much of these have been closed.