Stockholm

[Kyng]

(Source: Holger.Ellgaard; View licence terms)

 

So far, the five 'city' topics have all been from the British Isles, with four from the UK and one from the Republic of Ireland. I thought I would go a little further afield this time . 

Stockholm is the capital city of Sweden, and also the largest city in the country (and, indeed, the largest in any of the Nordic countries). The city itself is home to 962,154 people as of 2017, while the wider metro area contains a total of 2,315,612 people. Considering there are only 10.2 million people in the entire country of Sweden, that's quite a large chunk of its population! 

The area has been settled for several millennia now, but the city of Stockholm was officially founded by Birger Jarl in the year 1252. Originally, it was founded across four small islands: Stadsholmen, Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen, and Strömsborg. Today, these four islands make up the 'Gamla stan' (or 'Old Town') district of Stockholm, immediately to the south of the modern-day city centre. Gamla stan still contains many original Medieval buildings, and narrow cobbled streets that clearly weren't designed for cars at all (see this aerial view!). From here, the city began to expand rapidly during the 1600s, when Sweden reached its zenith as a major European power. However, as Sweden's influence began to wane, Stockholm stagnated - and a plague in the early 1700s killed off over a third of its population. Things turned around in the 19th century, though, as factories, trades and services began to find their homes there, as did several scientific and cultural institutes, helping to cement the city as the largest and most important in the Nordic Countries: a status which it retains today. The population of the metro area is projected to grow to 2.5 million by 2024, which is likely to necessitate major redevelopment in the city centre to accommodate all these extra people: we'll need to wait and see what happens! 

Despite the current importance of hi-tech service industries, Stockholm remains proud of its history, and there are plenty of sites of cultural interest. Within Gamla stan, there are also several palaces, including Stockholm Palace, where the office of the King are (though he doesn't actually live there: he lives with his family in Drottningholm palace, further out in the western part of the city). Over in the eastern parts of the city, there's the Skansen open air museum, opened in 1891, making it one of the oldest museums of its kind in the world. The city is also home to the Vasa, a 17th-century warship which sunk on its maiden voyage, and then lay in Stockholm's harbour for over 300 years before being raised in 1961; it's now one of the best-preserved museum ships of its era. Going more modern, the Stockholm Metro has many stations which are decorated with sculptures or rock formations, leading to the nickname "The longest art gallery in the world". This claim is somewhat dubious (some metro systems, such as Moscow's, have more stations with art), but it's still one of the most visually-impressive metro systems I've travelled on!

So, has anyone else ever been there? If not, would you like to go?

[Moonshroom]

Part of my family comes from Stockholm. I have always wanted to visit... maybe I will one day.

Beautiful thing indeed.

[Detective Osprey]

That's gorgeous. I went when I was 4 and hope to go back.

[Deleted User 8]

Ah, Sweden. Always wanted to go there. Maybe someday, when I'm loaded with money (because the country's cost of living is very high, from what I've heard).

[Kyng]

Ah, Sweden. Always wanted to go there. Maybe someday, when I'm loaded with money (because the country's cost of living is very high, from what I've heard).

From what I remember (which is a while ago now), Sweden was quite expensive, but still not nearly as expensive as Norway.

(Then again, I've only been to the major cities in Norway, and I haven't been anywhere in Sweden except for Stockholm. It's possible that these places are only expensive because they're the countries' most important cities - and no more expensive than London is!)