Landskrona

Landskrona
The old water tower in Landskrona is a landmark that can be seen from far away
Coat of arms
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	Scania
County	Scania
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.^[4][5] Around the Castle build by Danish king Christian III in 1549, Landskrona Citadel,^[6] 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,^[7] 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.^[8]

For many years the town had a car ferry line to Copenhagen (Tuborg harbour, 70 minutes).^[9][10][11] 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, the Öresundsvarvet shipyard had up to 3,500 employees,^[12] 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 six seasons (as of January 2017, and there will be at least one more), 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 is usually claimed to have been founded in 1413 by the King of Denmark, Eric of Pomerania, as a trading city intended to compete with Danish towns under the control of the Hanseatic League. There is however evidence found in the Danish National Archive, which mention the town by the name "Landzcrone" already in 1405.

The site possesses the best natural harbour in Scania, which at that time was part of Denmark. At the time of foundation the site held a fishing settlement named Sønder Sæby.^{[note 1]} The original name of the officially founded town was Landszcrone, which changed to Landskrone sometime before 1450.^[13]

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, but survives in the name of the street "Karmelitergatan".^{[note 2]}

The town supported the king Christian II in 1525, and opposed the Reformation in Denmark (1535); in both causes it found itself on the losing side. 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, was completed by 1559.^[14]

After Scania was ceded to the Swedish Crown in 1658, the good harbour and strong fort motivated 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 lasting from July 8 to August 2, 1676. The commandant, Colonel Hieronymus Lindeberg, was consequently sentenced to death for high treason.^[6]

In 1753 the Swedish military commander feared that the tower of Sancti Johannis Baptistae church could be a threat to the citadel and demanded the demolition of the church.^[15] Even though the cornerstone of the new Sofia Albertina Church was laid the following year, it was not inaugurated until 1788, and was finally completed in 1812. Unusually for a church that is not a dioscean seat, the new church was built with two towers, possibly in compensation for its much larger medieval predecessor.

Landskrona's military importance declined after the 18th century. The continued Swedish–Danish wars led to Karlskrona replacing Landskrona as a naval base, as it is located at a safer distance from Denmark. Although the fortifications at Landskrona were expanded considerably between 1747 and 1788, they were condemned in 1822, whereafter the garrison was abolished in 1869. The last military regiment, Skånska Husarregimentet, K5 was renamed and moved from Landskrona to Uppsala in 1926.^[16][17] Today the walls and moats of the fortifications of Landskrona Citadel are a recreational area and the castle holds a museum. On the northern side, an allotment-garden area of cottages was founded in the final years of the 19th century, and is today the oldest of its kind in Sweden.^[18] The military's large exercise field became a public heath, today called "Exercisfältet" or "Exan".^[19]

The town grew quickly after the industrial revolution and subsequent urbanization. During the first World War a large shipyard, Öresundsvarvet was constructed. In the mid-1970s the shipyard employed more than 3,500 people, in a town with only 30,000 inhabitants. The shipyard was closed down in stages from the late 1970s, finally closing in 1983.^[12]

Enoch Thulin's funeral, May 1919.

The line up for the 1933 Saxtorp TT-motorcycle race

On 14 May 1919 the Swedish engineer and flight pioneer Enoch Thulin, who lived and worked in Landskrona, died when he crashed his own airplane at the Södra Fäladen fields. His funeral service was held in Sofia Albertina Church.^[20]

Between 1930 and 1939 the Saxtorp TT-races were held just south of the town. The races attracted up to 160,000 attendees and are considered the largest sporting events by crowd size ever held in Sweden.^[21][22]

Townscape

Street in the old part of the town near its centre.

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, which 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.^[23]

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 was built 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^[24] and Frans Ekelund 1913–1949.^[25][26] 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.^[24]

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.^[25] 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 new railway station, opened in January 2001

By the sea side. Danish Capital Copenhagen seen from Landskrona

The island of Ven can be reached through a regular ferry connection. The ships used for this transport usually depart 9 times a day. Extended service is also available during July and August.^[27]

The town's first railway station opened in 1863 and was located a short walk from Rådhustorget, the City Hall Square.^[28] In the 1920's was Landskrona station the western terminal of three railway lines. To Eslöv, Kävlinge (from which some trains continued to Lund and Malmö) and to Billesholm. It's notable that during the 1860 to 1940 construction of the Swedish railway network, there wasn't build a railway to the nearby city of Helsingborg. The line to Billesholm was short-lived and closed before the 1960's. During the mid 1970's was the Swedish National Railways, SJ concidering to close all local train service in the south. But along with other towns and cities in the former Malmöhus län, did Landskrona participated in forming a new local railway system, which got the very Scanian name Pågatåg. This new railway system, which opened in a minor scale in 1983, was the first of its kind in Sweden, outside the Stockholm area. ^[29] In connection with the construction of the Øresund Bridge, another train system was introduced, called the Øresundståg. They are Inter-regional trains as well as international ones, and are partly linking Denmark and Sweden together in the field of railways. For Landskrona this meant that there was a call for a new location of the station, in order to avoid both the terminal station type, as well as open up also for northbound traffic. After political discussions was it also decided to build a new dual track high speed railway between Helsingborg and Lund, as a part of a planned West Coast Railway between Copenhagen and Gothenborg. As Landskrona is located between Helsingborg and Lund, Landskrona became included in the planning for the new railway. But, as the new railway just "touched" the town's eastern end, there was a need for a new station in that area. The new station, located at what until the late 1990's, were agricultural areas, now delineates the clear boundary between town and countryside. The new station, which opened in January 2001, allowed for a greater range of train operations, compared to the old terminal for southbound trains only. Today, all local Pågatågen trains and inter-regional Øresundståg trains stop at the new station, which gives the new station a frequent weekday service of 4-6 trains per hour in each direction.

A trolleybus shuttle service ("the Station Shuttle") links the new station with the city centre and the ferry terminal in the harbour. It is (by 2017) possible to reach Copenhagen Airport in 50 minutes and central Copenhagen in 65 minutes. It's also possible to reach Copenhagen by northbound trains to Helsingborg and then by the HH ferry route make a 20 minute sea travel to Helsingør, and from there take another train to Copenhagen. Although the (initially) northbound way for central Copenhagen includes two changes, is the Danish Capital normally reached in less than 90 minutes. ^[30]

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 ^{[31][32][33][34]} 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.^[35]

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.^[36][37]

Copenhagen Airport influence

Aircraft approaching the nearby Copenhagen Airport to land on Runway 22L pass over the northern part of the town, where they make a sharp right turn towards the south to intercept the localiser around Barsebäck.^[38] Most landings at Copenhagen take place at Runway 22L.^[39] At the busiest times this can lead to consecutive aircraft passing over Landskrona with less than a minute's gap between them.^[40]

Sports

The following sports clubs are located in Landskrona:

• Landskrona BoIS (association football)

Demographics

Landskrona's population has in 21:st century once again exceeded 30.000 inhabitants, which equals the situation in the early 1970's. The town had 32 229 inhabitants in 2015.

See also

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

Notes

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