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Gothenburg » Sweden
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GOTHENBURG

Country:

Sweden

sweden flag
population 872.000
language Swedish
currency Euro (€)
 
Is a city and municipality on the west-coast of Sweden, in the County of Västra Götaland. As of 2005, the population amounted to 485,000 in the actual city and 872,000 in the metropolitan area making it the second largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm. Gothenburg is the seat of residence for the county, which itself is located in the historical province of Västergötland.


History

In the Middle Ages the town of Lödöse - 40 kilometers north of present day Gothenburg up the Göta älv - served as trade centre and port to the west. For strategic reasons (the Norwegian Bohus Fortress was a threat further up the river) the town was moved closer to the sea. But the new settlement, Nya Lödöse (New Lödöse), also had its problems and the town dwellers had to seek protection at the old Älvsborg Fortress.In the early 17th century Sweden controlled only one point on the western coastline. An attempt in 1607 to found a city by the name of Gothenburg on the nearby island of Hisingen had failed due to the Kalmar War, but the second attempt in 1621, by King Gustavus Adolphus (Gustaf II Adolf), was successful.

Following the successive wars, by 1658 all the Danish eastern provinces were ceded to Sweden, by the Treaty of Roskilde; it meant that Halland, south of Gothenburg, and Bohus county (Bohuslän), north of Gothenburg, became Swedish - making Gothenburg's position less exposed and enabling the town to grow into an important port and trade centre on the west coast. A curiosity in the history of the city is that the Dutch town planners that the Swedish king summoned when he founded the city (the Netherlands were a world leading nation in the field at the time) used the same blueprint for the canals of Gothenburg as they used for Jakarta.

In the 18th century the Swedish East India Company in Gothenburg became the largest trading company in Sweden.In Dutch, Scots, German and English- languages with a long history of being spoken in the trade and maritime-oriented city - the name Gothenburg (with varying pronunciations) was traditionally used for the city, while the French form of the city name is Gothembourg. These traditional forms are now widely replaced with the use of the Swedish form Göteborg.


Places of interest


The Göteborgs Operan:



The Göteborgs Operan or Gothenburg Opera is an opera house in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Göteborg Opera house is relatively new: construction started in September 1989 after significant local commitment in the late 1980s (with as many as 6,000 contributors to the new house) and it was completed with great speed. Ground breaking took place in June 1991, and the building was inaugurated in October 1994. The result was a world class opera house with its auditorium built in the classical style.

With its stalls and balconies, it has 1,301 seats. The orchestra pit has room for about 100 musicians. The House is shared by opera, ballet, musicals and operettas so the architects had to meet a number of challenges.It is a large house - 160 metres long and 85 metres wide at its widest – and the building is 32 metres high. The floor area is 28,700 square metres. The main stage is 500 square metres, while the stage opening is 20 metres high and 9 metres wide. There are four movable platforms that each can carry a weight of 15 tons. The stage can be lit by 1000 spotlights with 250 automatic color scrollers and 900 dimmer lights. The architect, Jan Izkowitz, shares his vision of the house: “The building should be possessed by an airiness that sends your mind soaring across the meandering landscape like wings of seagulls.

Its shape should be inspired by its location, from the magnificent but elusive landscape with its light and open spaces, to the harbor’s more tangible technical constructions; the bridges gracefully suspended across the water, the transparent framework of the harbor cranes, the strength, softness and elegance of the ships’ hulls, the wings of seagulls and the flawless aerodynamic shape of sails”. Its reflects on the operatic aspect of the design: “The world of opera should also be visible in the architecture: the rear stage wall as a large set piece, the colonnade as a series of symbolic gates and stage openings, the fly towers as gigantic lighting towers, the shape and color of the auditorium as an allusion to old traditions”. The overall size of the building is a reflection of the company’s growth and it’s spread throughout the city. Therefore, the building attempts to encompass all the activities that were earlier spread out at six different locations are now housed in one building.

Another reason is that the Göteborg Opera should be able to offer as wide a selection of productions as possible, with the possibility of changing performance and art form from one night to another. There can be five assembled stage sets stored in the house at the same time, in five different areas the same size as the main stage. With the help of advanced modern technology, whole stage sets can be moved around, exchanged and assembled for the next performance.



Gothenburg Museum of Art:



The Göteborg Museum of Art at Götaplatsen, Gothenburg, is renowned for its collection of Nordic art from around the close of the 19th century. A must see is the lavisciously decorated Fürstenberg Gallery, named after a leading Gothenburg art donor, Pontus Fürstenberg and his wife Göthilda. Among the artists showcased one can mention Carl Larsson, Anders Zorn, and P.S. Kröyer.

The museum also houses older and contempory art, both Nordic and international. The Museum has been awarded three stars in the Michelin Guide (Green Guide Scandinavia).The museum building was created for the international exhibition in Gothenburg 1923, celebrating the city's 300th anniversary, and represents the monumental Neo-Classical style.

 
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