Långholmen

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Långholmen

Långholmen is an island in central Stockholm, between Södermalm and Kungsholmen.

Långholmen is a green oasis in the city, and a popular spot for walks, picnics, and swimming. The small beaches, located right outside the former prison, are usually crowded in the summer. However, up until 1975, Långholmen was used as a prison island. Since 1989 Långholmen prison is a 112 room hotel and hostel, renovated 2007/2008, offering Stockholm most captivating accommodation. In the old prison hospital there is a restaurant and pub.

The JAS monument next to Västerbron.

Långholmen was originally rocky and barren, but in the eighteenth century, prison inmates covered the island with mud dredged from the surrounding waterways. After several years, the fertile soil transformed much of the island into lush gardens with a somewhat exotic flora, due to the introduction of various seeds that were spread via trade and merchant ships passing by the island. This peculiarity still persists, and today the island is considered a lush retreat.

In 1993 a JAS 39 Gripen fighter aircraft crashed on Långholmen during a display at the Stockholm Water Festival. The plane caught fire on impact, but the fire could soon be put out. As a miracle no one was seriously injured − the pilot had already ejected − despite large crowds of spectators. A sculpture in stainless steel by Thomas Qvarsebo, depicting a paper plane with its nose drilled into the ground, has been placed on the spot in 1994.