Culture and heritages
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The most important day in Karlskrona is the day before midsummer's eve. On that day a big fair takes place and attracts tens of thousands to visit Karlskrona. The fair is called Lövmarknaden (The Leaf Fair) and is very popular among the locals.
The main square of Karlskrona is the biggest in Scandinavia.
Every year in late July/early August a popular festival called The Sail takes place in the harbor of Karlskrona. Usually it is a place where families go to have something to eat and drink, and perhaps watch the sailing boats lined up at the pier. During the sail, the sea scouts of Karlskrona will row a boat carrying torches along the docks while playing the national anthems for the visiting ships.
Lately The Sail has been replaced with a festival called Skärgårdsfest.
The old architecture together with the naval installations comprise the major tourist attractions of Karlskrona. The city has a pleasant atmosphere and is one of the highlights of south-east Sweden.
Architectural Heritage[edit]
Karlskrona has preserved its buildings and its layout virtually intact since its foundation.
When the city was founded in 1680, it was primarily thought of as a military city, with many defenses and fortifications exploiting the particular topography of the city. Some fortifications were located on the main island (Trossö) such as the Bastion Aurora, built at the beginning of the 18th century, but much of it was located on the nearby islands (Ljungskär, Mjölnareholmen, Godnatt, Koholmen and Kurrholmen) or more distant, such as the islands closing the bay, with in particular the important fortress of Kungsholmen and its circular port.
Bastion Aurora
Västra kruthuset
The Kungsholmen fort
The circular harbor of Kungsholmen
But the civil part of the city was also carefully planned. It has a rectangular grid plan, with however some diagonal streets, created because of the relief of the city center.[citation needed] Nicodème Tessin l'Ancien was responsible for the design of the buildings, and he gave the city a very uniform baroque style.[citation needed]
The central building of the city is the Fredrikskyrkan church, built in the 1690s, On the main square, which is also the highest point of the island. Several other churches are located in the city, such as the Church of the Holy Trinity, built for the Germans of the city in 1709, or the Amiralitetskyrkan, consecrated in 1685
The Fredrikskyrkan Church
Church of the Holy Trinity
Amiralitetskyrkan
In front of the Amiralitetskyrkan church is the statue of Rosenbom, made famous by the children's book of Selma Lagerlöf, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, in which the statue tells the story of the church. The man is seen holding some text in Swedish. The English translation of that text is "I humbly beg of you, even though my voice may be weak, come and put a penny in but first lift my hat. Blessed are those that care for the poor." (The last sentence being adapted from the Bible.) Nearby, there is paper with the translation of that text, the translated languages are English, German, Polish, Danish, Norwegian, and Finnish. The English translation is written by Gorge Hopkins. Near the church is also the Admiralstorn Tower, dating from 1699, originally used to indicate the time for the shipyard workers but used since 1909 as the church tower
The statue of Rosenbom
Admiralstorn
Finally, the city has some more recent buildings, such as the model room, having hosted between 1780 and 1920 models of boats, Now transferred to the Marine Museum, or the town hall built after the fire of 1790. Finally, the county residence (Länsresidenset) built between 1909 and 1911.
The model room
City Hall
County governor residence
Museums[edit]
The Museum of the Navy
The most visited museum of the city is the Naval Museum, with around 250,000 visitors a year. About half of those visitors are Swedish, the other half from other countries. The Naval Museum is Sweden's national museum for the history of the Swedish Navy. Along with exhibitions, the museum contains object collections, a drawings archive, photographic archive and a library. The museum is also involved in research.
The present museum building on Stumholmen in Karlskrona was opened in 1997 by the present king Carl XVI Gustaf. Before that the museum lay in the former cadet barracks in the naval harbour, Örlogshamnen, and until 1963 was known as the Shipyard Museum (Varvsmuseet).
The museum is based on the "model room" created in 1752 by King Adolf Frederick of Sweden, in which several boat models were stored in order to test different types of structures. Nowadays, these models still form the core of the museum's collection, but the museum also traces the history of the Royal Swedish Navy.
The city is also home to the Blekinge Museum, with 82,443 visitors in 2008.
