Båstad () is a locality and the seat of

Båstad Municipality Båstad Municipality () is a Municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Skåne County in South Sweden, located in Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Båstad. The present municipality was established in 1971 when the market town (''köping' ...

Scania County Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne County, cr ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, with approximately 5,000 permanent residents. It is however one of Sweden's most typical summer resorts. The population is presumably more than twice as large between April and September, and even larger during July. Its municipality follows a similar pattern: some 15,000 permanent residents, but more than 30,000 during July. Some villages within the municipality are almost empty during the winter, but have more than 2,000 "summer guests" during July. Torekov is a good example of this. Within Sweden, Båstad is well known for

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

. The largest centre court in Sweden is located in the town's centre, and can take more than 5,000 attendants. Several top national players, such as

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 109 weeks. Borg won 66 singles titles during his caree ...

Mats Wilander Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

and

Stefan Edberg Jan Stefan Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in both men's singles and men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), one of two players in the ...

, have played tennis in Båstad.

Geography

The town of Båstad is located in a sheltered bay with the Hallandian ridge stretching behind it. The town borders the shore, whereafter the terrain raises until the dense vegetation of the ridge takes over.

History

The first city privileges were granted in the 14th or 15th century, when the area belonged to

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. The first certain date is 1513 when it was re-granted. At the time, the name in print was ''Botstœdœ'', which would translate to "Boat (landing) place". In 1658, the area was

conquered Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or legal prohibitions against conquest ...

, and Båstad was given new "special" privileges in 1664, because it was of too insignificant size to receive the full

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

as one of Sweden's cities. The minor privilege allowed the town to be used for commerce,

handicraft A handicraft is a traditional main sector of craft making and applies to a wide range of creative and design activities that are related to making things with one's hands and skill, including work with textiles, moldable and rigid material ...

and

hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...

ry. The minor privilege was in effect until 1858 when it got proper rights as a ''merchant town'', or ''

köping ''Köping'' was a Swedish denomination for a market town since the Middle Ages, derived from the Old Norse word '' kaupang''. The designation was officially abolished with the municipal reform of 1971, when Sweden was subdivided into the Munic ...

''. It has been the seat of

since 1971. Båstad is known for its

tournament

Swedish Open The Swedish Open is a professional tennis tournament held in Båstad, Sweden. It is played on outdoor clay courts in July. The men's event (sponsored by Skistar) is an ATP Tour 250 tournament on the ATP Tour. The women's event (sponsored by ...

on the

ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...

, held each summer since 1948. The tournament boasts the largest number of courts in the country, and has fostered many internationally successful tennis players, such as Magnus Larsson. It attracts some 20,000 visitors and puts the town in a festive mood for a few weeks. Since 2009, the women's WTA tournament, previously held in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, also is played in Båstad as part of the Swedish Open. The city is also home of the Troentorp Clog, formerly known as Båstad Clogs. Troentorp Clogs have been handcrafted in Båstad since 1907 and continue to be produced with the original wooden design. The botanist Carl Adolph Agardh was born in Båstad in 1785.

Sights

The Church of Båstad or Saint Mary's Church is located in central Båstad. It was constructed in the 15th century. It is a Romanesque church, and contains several wall paintings from various centuries; a madonna image; and a Danish altarpiece, among other things. A few kilometers outside of Båstad there is a large garden called Norrviken Gardens, which was founded by Rudolf Abelin in the 1900. It once had been chosen as the most beautiful park in Sweden, and the second most beautiful in Europe in 2006.

Notable people

* Carl Adolph Agardh (1785–1859), botanist * Mari Andersson (born 1986), former tennis player * Arne Bjerhammar (1917–2011), geodesist notable for independently describing

Moore–Penrose inverse In mathematics, and in particular linear algebra, the Moore–Penrose inverse of a matrix , often called the pseudoinverse, is the most widely known generalization of the inverse matrix. It was independently described by E. H. Moore in 1920, Ar ...

in 1951 * Anders Järryd (born 1961), former tennis player * Erik Paulsson (born 1942), billionaire businessman * Anders Silwer (born 1959), former

Swedish Air Force The Swedish Air Force ( or just ) is the air force Military branch, branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. History The Swedish Air Force was created on 1 July 1926 when the aircraft units of the Army and Navy were merged. Because of the escalatin ...

officer. * Yvonne Maria Werner (born 1954), historian and professor

References

External links