Sundsvall () is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and the seat of

Sundsvall Municipality Sundsvall Municipality () is a municipality in Västernorrland County, northern Sweden, where the city Sundsvall is the seat. As most municipalities of Sweden, ''Sundsvalls kommun'' is a result of a series of amalgamations, carried out in 1952 a ...

Västernorrland County Västernorrland County () is a county ('' län'') in the north of Sweden. It is bordered by the counties of Gävleborg, Jämtland, Västerbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia. The name ''Västernorrland'' means "Western Norrland", as it was in the ...

, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population. Old town in Sundsvall is known as Stenstan, meaning ''stone city'' referencing the stone buildings from the late eighteen hundreds.

History

The town was chartered in 1621, and a first urban plan for Sundsvall was probably created by Olof Bure in 1642, less likely in 1623.Nils Ahlberg
''Stadsgrundningar och planförändringar : Svensk stadsplanering 1521–1721''
, avhandling vid Institutionen för landskapsplanering Ultuna och Konstvetenskapliga institutionen, Stockholms universitet 2005, s. 550 It has a port by the

Gulf of Bothnia The Gulf of Bothnia (; ; ) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the northern part of Sweden's east coast ( West Bothnia an ...

, and is located 395 km north of

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 ...

. The city has burned down and been rebuilt four times. The first time, in 1721, it was set on fire by the Russian army during the

Russian Pillage of 1719-1721 Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. According to one historian, Swedish industrialism started in Sundsvall when the Tunadal sawmill bought a steam-engine driven saw in 1849. In the early 20th century Sundsvall was an even greater centre of

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

industry in Sweden than it is today. The first large Swedish strike was the "Sundsvall strike" in 1879. The industrial heritage makes

social democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

and socialist sympathies more prevalent in the Sundsvall region than in Sweden as a whole. In 1888 on 25 June, strong wind and dry conditions contributed to two city fires in Sweden on the same day. On this day both

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

and Sundsvall caught fire.Fire of 1888
, Sunsvall.se, retrieved 28 May 2014 The Sundsvall fire was the largest in Sweden's history. It is presumed that the fire was caused by a spark from a steamship. After the fire, and unlike Umeå, the decision was to rebuild using stone. Sundsvall's centre was later nicknamed Stenstaden (''the stone city''). One advantage of the new construction was that within three years the town was arguing that it should be allowed reduced insurance as new rules had been brought in that applied to wooden towns. One disadvantage was that after the fire only the better off could afford to live in the centre. Today Sundsvall is not only dominated by the

pulp and paper industry The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood, specifically pulpwood, as raw material and produce pulp, paper, paperboard, and other cellulose-based products. Manufacturing process In the manufacturing process, pulp is intr ...

, and the aluminium production but there are also banks, insurance companies, telecommunications administration and a number of large public data-processing centres such as the national social insurance board. The main campus of the

Mid Sweden University Mid Sweden University () is a Swedish state university located in the region around the geographical center of Sweden. It has two campuses: one in Östersund and one in Sundsvall. The University was founded in 1993 as the result of a merge ...

(''Mittuniversitetet'') is also located in the city. The university, established in 1993, is a collaboration between Östersund, Sundsvall and Härnösand.

Demography

Culture

During 1987–2013, there was a summer music festival called Gatufesten. Starting in 2014 there's a new one called Hamnyran. There are two theatres and various musical venues. There is also a small guitar festival and a larger heavy metal festival every autumn called Nordfest. Sundsvall is also home to the unique festival Musikschlaget, which is a song contest for groups around Sweden with disabilities.

Transport

Its airport is Sundsvall-Timrå Airport, also called Midlanda.

Sport

* Alnö IF, association football *

GIF Sundsvall Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall, more commonly known as GIF Sundsvall (), Giffarna or simply Sundsvall, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Sundsvall. The club is affiliated with Medelpads Fotbollf� ...

, association football *

IF Sundsvall Hockey IF Sundsvall Hockey is a Sweden, Swedish ice hockey club based in Sundsvall. The club currently competes in Hockeyettan, the third tier of ice hockey in Sweden. Sundsvall plays their home matches at Gärdehov, with a capacity of 2,500. History ...

, ice hockey * IFK Sundsvall, association football * Sundsvalls AIK ( sv), wrestling (https://www.sundsvallsaik.se/) * Sundsvalls DFF, association football * Kovlands IF, multi-sport alliance club ** Kovlands Ishockeyförening, ice hockey * Selånger SK, multi-sport alliance club ** Selånger FK, association football ** Selånger SK Bandy, bandy * Sidsjö-Böle IF, association football *

Sund IF Sund IF is a Swedish Association football, football club located in Sundsbruk in Sundsvall Municipality, Västernorrland County. Background Sund Idrottsförening were formed on 9 September 1921. Eight years later Sund IF and Skönviks IF merged ...

, association football * Sundsvall Dragons, basketball * Sundsvall Flames, American football * Njurunda MK, Motocross, Enduro and Trial

Former

* IBK Sundsvall, floorball (1986–2006)

Notable people

* Otto Wallin, boxer * Garmarna, folk band * The Same, punk band * Sigrid Hjertén (1885–1948), painter * Harry Ahlin (1900–1969), actor * Per Arne Collinder (1890–1975), astronomer (born in Sundsvall) * Gina Dirawi (1990–), television presenter, host of

Melodifestivalen 2012 Melodifestivalen 2012 is a Swedish song contest that was held between 4 February and 10 March 2012. It selected the fifty-second Swedish entry to be internationally represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 (ESC 2012). As in the editions ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

* Elin Ek (1976–), TV and radio personality (as Grynet), singer * Fredrik Ericsson (1975–2010), extreme skier * Jessica Falk (1973–), singer-songwriter and musician * Anders Abraham Grafström (1790–1870), poet * Anders Graneheim (1962–), bodybuilder * Stan Hasselgård (1922–1948), musician *

Bengt Lindström Bengt Karl Erik Lindström (September 3, 1925, Berg Municipality — January 29, 2008, Sundsvall) was a Sweden, Swedish artist. Lindström was one of Sweden's best known contemporary artists with a characteristic style of distinct colors, ofte ...

(1925–2008), artist * Kjell Lönnå (1936–2022), musician * Fredrik Modin (1974–), ice hockey player * Max Magnus Norman (1973–), artist * Daniel Ohrn (1993-), ice hockey player * Erik Ringmar (1960–), political scientist and author * Mattias Saari (1994–), ice hockey player *

Helen Sjöholm Marie Helen Sjöholm (; born 10 July 1970) is a Swedish singer, actress and musical theatre performer who lives in Gamla Enskede in Stockholm. She grew up in Sundsvall and started to sing in choirs at an early age, working, among others, with Sw ...

(1970–), singer, actress and musical theater performer * Hanna Glas (1993–), football player * Carl Strandlund (1899–1974),

Swedish-American Swedish Americans () are Americans of Swedish descent. The history of Swedish Americans dates back to the early colonial times, with notable migration waves occurring in the 19th and early 20th centuries and approximately 1.2 million arrivi ...

inventor and entrepreneur * Henrik Zetterberg (1980–), ice hockey player * Yohio (1995–), singer and guitarist * Kevin Walker (1989–), football player and winner of Idol 2013 *

Charlotte Kalla Marina Charlotte Kalla (; born 22 July 1987) is a Swedish retired Cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skier. A four-time Olympian, Kalla won three golds and nine medals overall at the Olympics between 2004 and 2022. She holds the joint r ...

(1987–), cross-country skier * Carl-Herman Tillhagen (1906–2002), folklorist * Emil Forsberg (1991–), football player *

Elias Pettersson Fredrik Elias Pettersson (born 12 November 1998) is a Swedish professional ice hockey forward and alternate captain for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Pettersson was selected fifth overall by the Canucks in the 20 ...

(1998–), ice hockey player and 2019 Calder Trophy winner *

MyAnna Buring My Anna Margaretha Buring Rantapää (born 22 September 1979), known professionally as MyAnna Buring (), is a Swedish-born British actress. Her films include ''The Descent'' (2005), ''Kill List'' (2011), and ''The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn � ...

(1979–), actress (born in Sundsvall) * Ursula Wirth (1934–2019), rally driver

Gallery

Climate

Sundsvall has a climate which is on the border between

subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of hemiboreal regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Fennoscandia, Northwestern Russia, Siberia, and the Cair ...

( Dfc) and cold

humid continental Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

(Dfb), leaning towards the latter in recent years. Temperatures are made significantly milder and regulated by the influence from the

Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida and up the eastern coastline of the United States, then veers east near 36°N latitude (North Carolin ...

. The weather station is located to the north and somewhat further inland near

Timrå Timrå () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Timrå Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 10,443 inhabitants in 2010. It is located about 13 km north of Sundsvall (a town with a metropolitan area of some 100,00 ...

, which renders that Sundsvall's urban centre is likely milder in terms of low temperatures by some degree.

References

External links

Sundsvall
– Official site

from

Nordisk Familjebok (, 'Nordic Family Book') is a Swedish language, Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. The public domain edit ...

(1918)
sundsvallturism.com
– Sundsvalls tourist information bureau. *
Sundsvalltown.se
– The alternative guide to Sundsvall.
sundsvallsbilder.com
– Blog with photos from Sundsvall. {{Authority control Populated places in Sundsvall Municipality Medelpad Municipal seats of Västernorrland County Swedish municipal seats Coastal cities and towns in Sweden Cities in Sweden