Norrköping

Around 100,000 people currently live in Norrköping (around 145,000 in the municipality as a whole), and the city belongs to the historical province of Östergötland. It lies on the Baltic bay of Bråviken, and the Motala ström river flows through it, forming waterfalls and rapids as it overcomes a considerable drop of 22 metres within the city. The area south of the city is characterised by forests, while the rest of the surroundings are dominated mainly by farmland.

The city was first mentioned in the 12th century, but it took another five centuries before it gained in importance. Salmon fishing in particular was especially important to the city for several hundred years. In the 16th century Norrköping was caught up in the Northern Seven Years’ War (the “Three Crowns War”, 1563–1570) between Sweden and Denmark: in 1567, during a Danish advance into Östergötland, large parts of the town burned down. At the beginning of the 19th century Norrköping established itself as the most important centre of the textile industry in all of Sweden. However, in 1822 and 1826 the city was struck by two devastating fires in which large parts of it burned down. During the Second World War the boom in Norrköping’s textile industry collapsed, and afterwards only a few small businesses were able to re-establish themselves. The shift from cotton clothing to synthetic fabrics, which could be produced more cheaply abroad, also contributed to the decline of the textile sector. In the 1970s several government agencies moved from Stockholm to Norrköping.
Theatre plays a major role in Norrköping. In 1776 Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” received its Swedish premiere here, and today there are many theatres in the city that visitors can attend. The city’s art and local history museum was established in the 1940s, and the city library has existed since 1973. In the park there is also a sculpture called “Prisma”, which, when it was erected in 1967, was the largest glass artwork in the world. Norrköping’s airfield is the oldest in Sweden, in operation since 1934, and it is also used for cargo flights.
There are also several ports around the city. The deep-water port of Pampushamnen is one of the ten largest ports in the country. Its main business is cargo handling, and around 1,300 ships call there every year.

The local football club IFK Norrköping is one of the best teams in Sweden. Norrköping is also very successful in basketball, with both its men’s and women’s teams playing in the top division. The Swedish singer Amy Diamond and the footballer Tom Söderberg come from Norrköping.