Borås

"Boras" redirects here. For the MLB agent, see Scott Boras.
Borås

Borås railway station

Coat of arms
Nickname(s): Textiletown
Borås
Coordinates: 57°43′16″N 12°56′25″E / 57.72111°N 12.94028°E / 57.72111; 12.94028Coordinates: 57°43′16″N 12°56′25″E / 57.72111°N 12.94028°E / 57.72111; 12.94028
Country Sweden
Province Västergötland
County Västra Götaland County
Municipality Borås Municipality
Founded 1621
Area[1]
 • Total 31.40 km2 (12.12 sq mi)
Elevation 143 m (469 ft)
Population (31 December 2010)[1]
 • Total 66,273
 • Density 2,111/km2 (5,470/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 501 xx
Area code(s) (+46) 33
Website Official website
DownTown Borås in winter
Borås circa 1700, in Suecia antiqua et hodierna.
A view from Krokshall square onto Caroli church with Viskan in front.

Borås (Swedish pronunciation: [bʊˈroːs]) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 66,273 inhabitants in 2010.[1]

Geography

Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them the railway between Gothenburg and Kalmar, and is often considered the Swedish city gaining the most from the nationwide railway system laid between 1870 and 1910.

History

The city of Borås received its privileges in 1621 by King Gustav II Adolf. The reason was to give local pedlars a legal place for vending their merchandise. The city developed soon after it was founded. After a century it had increased to over 2,000 inhabitants.

Borås has been ravaged by fires four times: in 1681, 1727, 1822 and 1827. The Caroli Church is the oldest of Borås's buildings, and has withstood all fires.

Industry

The city arms depicts two sheep-shearing scissors, a tribute to the vast number of smiths in the town in early history. It currently holds the Swedish record in the number of established mail-order firms.

The company Swedac is based in the city, as well as Ericsson, which has a large manufacturing plant where Mini-Link microwave radios are manufactured. Worldwide clothing retailer H&M have their worldwide Online office based in the city as well.

Outside the city in the industrial park of Viared, there are many companies specializing in logistics. Industries in Borås have close collaboration with the University College of Borås as well as the SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, the largest technical research institute of Sweden, both located in Borås. Besides being the home of the official Swedish Kilogram-weight and the atomic clock that sets the national time, SP conducts various testing and research to promote consumer safety.

Sports

The most successful sports team is the football team IF Elfsborg, six times Swedish champions (1936, 1939, 1940,1961, 2006 and 2012) and three times winner of the Swedish cup (2001, 2003 and 2014). Elfsborg was founded in 1904, but received its current name in 1906. The team's home arena is since 2005 Borås Arena (formerly Ryavallen Stadium) in Borås, with a capacity of 16000. Elfsborg plays in yellow and black.

Other teams are Borås Hockey Club, M7 (a basketball team that worked with Magic Johnson for a short while) and Borås Rhinos which is an American football team.

The table tennis club Mariedals IK currently has three players in the Swedish youth team. Hampus Soderlund, Mattias Oversjo and Jimmy Ojakangas.

Other sports that can be practiced in Borås are archery, track and field, rowing, handball, table tennis, tennis, skiing, orienteering, archery, sport shooting, swimming, golf, equestrian, bowling, cheerleading and various martial arts. Borås Judoclub has tried to create a national center for judo. Members from the club that have participated in the olympics include Per Kjellin and Lars Adolfsson (who competed twice).

Boråshallen is the largest indoor sports hall in Borås, where the Mariedal cup is held annually in October or November. It started in 1978 in its current form.

Borås hosted the water polo events of the XIII FINA World Masters Championships 2010 from July 28 to August 6.[2]

Other sports clubs located in Borås include:

Culture

Every summer, a number of free outdoor concerts are held on the town square on Thursday evenings.

The city has lately been recognized as a city of outdoor sculptures, such as Catafalque by Sean Henry, Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd's knotted non-violence pistol and a huge bronze version of Pinocchio called Walking to Borås by the American pop artist Jim Dine.

During the holiday All Saints there is an annual gaming convention called Borås Spelkonvent where people, mostly youths, meet to play various board-games, Warhammer 40k and Magic: The Gathering among other games.

Districts

Municipal subdistrict Göta

  • Göta
  • Kristineberg
  • Dammsvedjan
  • Hedvigsborg

Municipal subdistrict Sjöbo

Municipal subdistrict Brämhult

Municipal subdistrict Norrby

  • Norrby
  • Byttorp
  • Tullen
  • Hestra
  • Ekås

Municipal subdistrict Centrum (city)

  • Centrum
  • Salängen
  • Lugnet
  • Villastaden
  • Bergdalen
  • Norrmalm

Municipal subdistrict Sandhult

Gallery

Notable natives

Schools

See also University of Borås

High schools

In popular culture

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Localities 2010, area, population and density in localities 2005 and 2010 and change in area and population". Statistics Sweden. 29 May 2012. Archived from the original on 17 December 2012.
  2. ↑ - XIII FINA World Masters Championships 2010 website
  3. ↑ "Player's portraits 2008". svenskfotboll.se. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
  4. ↑ sv:Johan Hallgren
  5. ↑ "Marcus Hansson homepage". bubben.com. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  6. ↑ "Detroit’s Mr. Do-It-All". Interlink Magazines, LLC. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
  7. ↑ "Hans Rosenfeldt". World Conference of Screenwriters. 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2015.

External links

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