Valhalla Swimming Hall

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Valhalla Swimming Hall (swedish: Valhallabadet) is a swimming hall located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Valhalla was officially opened on December 6, 1956, by Gothenburg's municipal commissioner Torsten Henriksson.

Valhalla was designed by Nils Olsson, the design was awarded with a medal at the olympics in architecture in 1948. ^[1] The work was completed by Gustav Samuelsson in 1956 after Olssons death.

Upon completion at 67 000 m³, Valhalla was the biggest and most modern swimming facility in Sweden. The interior decoration of 700 square meters (7 535 square feet) was made by local painter Nils Wendel.

In 1959 the men's tub bathing area was rebuilt to a thermae bath. In 1967 a 50 meter outdoor swimming pool was added to the facility. During renovations and expantions in the 1980s 185 changing booth were exchanged for lockers to prevent homosexuall men from meeting in the locker room area, since it had been a problem. In 1987 the outdoor pool was demolished for a new 50 meter indoor pool.

Valhallabadet was a venue for the 1997 Short Course World Championships, the main venue was Scandinavium.

During the 2005 Swedish Short Course Championships Anna-Karin Kammerling broke the world record on 50 meter butterfly with the time 25.33.

[edit] References

^ Caldenby, Claes [2006]. Guide till Göteborgs arkitektur (in Swedish). Sweden: Arkitektur Förlag, p 102-104. ISBN 91-86050-67-2. Retrieved on February 17, 2006. “ritades ursprungligen av Nils Olsson och medadaljbelönades på olympiaden i arkitektur 1948 (!)”