Östersund
Encyclopedia
Östersund is an urban area
(city) in Jämtland
in the middle of Sweden
. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality
and the capital of Jämtland County
. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth largest lake, Storsjön
, opposite the island Frösön
, and is the only city in Jämtland. Östersund is the region's cultural and economical centre and by tradition a city of trade and commerce. Östersund had one of the most extensive garrison
s in Sweden prior to its close down in the early 21st century. The city is the Mid Sweden University
's largest campus site with approximately 7 000 students. With a total population of roughly 60,000 Östersund is the 24th most populous city in Sweden and the 46th most populous city in Scandinavia.
The city was the only Swedish city founded and chartered in the 18th century. Östersund was founded in order to create a trade monopoly over Jämtland whose inhabitants' lucrative trade annoyed the Swedish crown. The intention was to pursue the local farmers to deliver merchandise to middlemen in Östersund, but the population opposed this economic philosophy, and Östersund long remained small. It took until the end of the 19th century for Östersund to truly become a city, after the arrival of the railroad and the economic liberalization
of that time.
Östersund is situated in inland Scandinavia and connected to Sundsvall
in the east at the Swedish coast, and Trondheim
in the west at the shores of the Norwegian sea
. Östersund is located in the middle of Scandinavia
, in the middle of Sweden, in the middle of Jämtland County and in the middle of Östersund Municipality. As the most centrally located city in Sweden, the city credits itself as the centre of Sweden
.
Östersund is marketed as Vinterstaden — Winter City. Winter City as a project is run by the Municipality together with city enterprises
. Östersund has had a long history as a centre of outdoor activities with a modern cross-country ski
stadium
and an actual piste
in the city itself. Östersund has also hosted several World Championships in various sports such as biathlon
, speed skating
and ski orienteering along with Swedish National Championships in cross country skiing and snocross
. The city has been the applicant city of Sweden for several Winter Olympic Games
, but has yet to host one. The precursor to the Winter Olympic Games, the Nordic Games
, were however held at several occasions in the city, due to lack of snow in Stockholm
.
. The area surrounding this lake is commonly referred to as Storsjöbygden and this area has been described as the World's northern-most located genuine agricultural
society
in the inland with continental climate
.
The city sprawls along the eastern slopes of lake Storsjön and most of the city and the city core itself is located on the mainland, facing the non mainland part of the city, the island of Frösön
, which for a very long time was the actual centre of Jämtland. Today, a sizeable part of the city's population live on the slopes of the island that face the city centre. Östersund is a bimunicipal town because a minor part of it with roughly 400 inhabitants is actually situated in Krokom Municipality
.
The city spans across Östersundet and the city was named after this strait. Östersund can be directly translated from Swedish to English as "East Sound
". The name of the strait derives from an older Jamtish
name now present in the form Åstersånn.
continental climate and is located in the far north of the north temperate climate zone. The cold Arctic
winds that occasionally find their way to the city are called nordvästan (the north-westerner) or kallvästan (the cold-westerner) locally.
However the winter climate is much warmer than most locations at similar latitudes. This is due to the gulf stream
and the many passages in the mountain range, bringing warmer Atlantic
winds to the city during winters. This somewhat maritime character also makes the summers in the city rather cool, in comparison to other towns in inland Scandinavia, which all have a more continental climate with cold winters and warm summers.
Though Östersund is in fact affected by the gulf stream it lacks the high frequency of rain
following the currents. This is due to the Scandinavian Mountain Range acting as a natural barrier, receiving most of the precipitation
, giving Östersund and the surrounding area a rain deficit.
Östersund has a high exposition of sunlight and was the most sunny city in Sweden in the summer of 2007 (July 1 - August 9) with 654 hours of sun.
s from east to west, which is why an alley in Östersund is synonymous with a road leading down towards Storsjön. From the inner city one may gaze upon Storsjön, Frösön and the Jamtish fell
region with snow-clad mountains. This was made possible due to the topography
and the grid plan
.
The regularity in Östersund's road system and the slanting alleys leading from higher altitudes down towards Storsjön have created the "windows to the west" characteristic and unique to Östersund as a city. The alleys, often seen as rather steep, have created the illusion that the houses in the city core are climbing to higher grounds. These houses were conformed upon their construction to fit with the slopes.
The first city plan of Östersund was made with several large segments in the core being reserved as green areas
. Östersund was thus planned as a green city and special lots, e.g. kryddgårdstomter "spice garden
lots" were created along with construction lots. These lots shifted with a construction lot alternating with a spice garden lot. The garden lots are no longer existent since they too have been constructed upon. Many of the fences that separated each lot from another with trees and verdure were left intact. The large green areas are still present, with park
s such as Kyrkparken, Österängsparken and Badhusparken being the most prominent. Badhusparken was once the location of a large bath house
(hence the name Badhus-) though it was torn down in 1881 when the railway was constructed. A new larger two-storey pompous bath house was later built on poles a few metres from the shore, enabling the population to bathe in the waters of Storsjön during summers. This house was also torn down, when a new bath house with heated water was founded in 1938.
When Östersund started to grow as a city in the late 19th century the houses consisted predominantly of wood, though stone had become popular in the central parts. These houses were heavily characterized by Neo-Gothicism
and Neo-Renaissance
. A very common feature of these houses were tower
s, some even resembling those on old castle
s like the one on Hotell Grand at the main square. In the early 20th century a new age had come and in the main road, Prästgatan, the new age came fiercely. The wooden houses were replaced by stone buildings, because a city's well being was measured in how many stone buildings it had. At the same time military barracks were constructed in connection to the older settlement. Jugendstil became popular too as an addition to the National Romantic style
architecture
.
In the 1930s, the functionalistic style
made itself apparent in Östersund's outskirts, which were growing. In the 1940s, the city was made more car-friendly and the city was first and foremost planned for cars. Later the sanitarian issues was brought up, which resulted in the construction of a sewage treatment works and the waste water was no longer flushed directly into Storsjön. Östersund was also affected by the Million Programme
, though to a lesser extent than other cities. During the same period older buildings such as Hotell Grand (to make room for Storsjöteatern), Cellfängelset (a jail
located at the beginning of Prästgatan), Flickskolan (the girl school next to the city hall, where the current county library is located) and Västra stationen (at Badhusparken) were torn down. The local media described it all as e.g. "demolishing madness". When the Good Templar house was threatened in order to widen Rådhusgatan the city's inhabitants had had enough and the building was saved.
The buildings along Storgatan (literally: "the great road") with entire segments intact since the 1880s are considered one of the best preserved city settlements in Sweden. The wooden façade
s are rich with details and the house are relatively low, short and slim. A great amount of work was put down on creating a balance between details and entirety. Parallel with Storgatan lies Prästgatan — "the priest
road", Östersund's main shopping street. The buildings between the two roads are often connected and the roads create small rooms mostly inaccessible for keen winds. These so called rooms also stimulate the social life on the streets.
Stortorget — the main town square
in central Östersund is one of six "closed squares" built in Sweden, the others being the ones in Uppsala
, Karlstad
, Vimmerby
, Piteå
and Haparanda
. It was created through indentation in four different blocks to deliberately create an open air room with openings to every direction. A style deriving from how cities were planned during the Renaissance. However the town square lost its original shape when it was "opened up" and expanded towards the lake. Stortorget has long been the city's main market place and core, it is also here that the thousand year old market Gregorie market is held each year in March. The city festival Storsjöyran
has Stortorget as its main centre.
(though Torvalla means "dry wealds" with no reference to Thor
). These two villages were later incorporated into Östersund and are today two major urban districts. Besides them the urban districts of Odenskog, Odensvik, Odenslund, Karlslund, Erikslund, Lugnvik
, Lillänge and Söder along with the new district Stadsdel Norr are found on the mainland. On Frösön, recently included into the city are the three urban districts Hornsberg, Mjälle and Valla.
The central parts of Östersund are a part of the urban district Staden — "the city", which has become synonymous with Östersund for many people living in the nearby villages and towns. As Östersund is the only city in the area and nearest city for many it is common to call it Stan, though the dative form
Staa has increasingly grown unusual. The residents of Östersunds are referred to as östersundare, though local ruralists call them stassbon "towners", and stassbo "towner", in singular
.
The most well known landmark of Östersund is the national romantic city hall
. It is 51 meters tall and contains 136 rooms. It is the greatest constructional symbol of the National Romantic architecture in Östersund. The city hall looks almost like a fortress and affiliates especially to the local art of Jämtland. The bell tower
is of typical Jamtish design shaped like an onion
, the local sculpture Olof Ahlberg made most of the sculpture details and the ornaments are made from Jamtish limestone
. Frans Bertil Wallberg's city hall was seen by contemporary colleagues as the best of modern Swedish architecture. The main part of the building is accentuated by a grand tower and a monumental stairway. It is accompanied by only one wing, the north wing, as the second, south wing, was torn down in the 1970s.
A recently built landmark is Arctura, named after Jämtland's provincial star Arcturus, a large hot water accumulator tank. Due to its appearance it is referred to as Termosen (the Thermos
). At night the 65 meter building is illuminated with various lights like sunrise
and the Aurora Borealis
.
The large church is a monumental feature in Östersund's cityscape. It is a basilica
made of bricks with clear distinguished aisle. The quire is three-sided and the large steeple
is facing the west: Storsjön and the fells of Oviken.
Lake Storsjön's shores have long been inhabited. Though the area where Östersund is situated was for a very long time Frösön's link to the east mainland. Frösön, the island of the Norse god Freyr
, was originally the centre of the region and it was here the only inland Scandinavian hill fort
, Mjälleborgen, was built around 300 AD. The ancient Scandinavian thing
Jamtamót
was held on this island, the christening of Jämtland begun here and it was here the World's northern-most raised runestone, Frösö Runestone
, was risen.
Plans regarding the foundation of a Swedish city or köping
(market town, "Chipping") in Jämtland existed amongst governmental officials already after the previously Norwegian province was ceded from Denmark-Norway in 1645. Queen Christina
demanded the establishment of a sconce
on Andersön
shortly after the province became Swedish, this sconce would together with Frösö sconce secure the Swedish control over Jämtland.County Administrative Board of Jämtland (Swedish) Christina's intention was to locate the "Jamts' city" within this fortification
. In order to construct the sconce the local inhabitants were coerced into forced labour 1651 but after protests and lack of capital
the project was ended in 1654.
In 1758, the plans were brought back up through an initiative from the chief financial officer
Pehr Schissler and the proposition did however initiate a new debate whether or not a city was to be established in Jämtland, in order to counteract the trading and faring traditions of Jämtland's farmers. Several other attempts at constraition had previously been taken, and deemed unsatisfactory. Östersund was founded and given its charter by Monarch
Gustav III of Sweden
the 23 October in 1786, shortly after the outskirt of the Odensala farmers' lands were bought for the purpose. Several other places had been suggested, like Huså
the then largest settlement in Jämtland along with Krokom
, Sunne and Ede outside of Brunflo
. Frösön was also a candidate but the lot fell on Östersund, as it was deemed most favourable. The only thing actually located in the area at the time was the main road and the bridge to Frösön. Östersund was upon foundation freed from taxes during a 20 year timespan and completely liberated from trade regulations and guild
order. In other remote locations of the Nordic region, similar cities were founded, like Reykjavik
on Iceland
the very same year, Tromsø
(1794) in Northern Norway and Tampere
(1775) and Kuopio
(1782) in the Finnish
inland
. Östersund is however the only city in present day Sweden to have been founded in the 18th century.
Just like any other city founded by state officials miles away, the city developed extremely poorly and had to struggle in its infancy. The State tried to pursue the Jamtish traders on Frösön to migrate to the new city but they had no intentions of leaving such a rich parish
with fertile soils Frösön consisted of in favour of the swamp and marches across the strait. During its first 50 years the city's population only grew (on average) with eight people per year. The city did become the capital of the newly founded county consisting of the provinces Jämtland and Härjedalen
in 1810, meaning that a county residence was built and a county administrative board was located to the city. Though Östersund remained as a de facto
farmer village with less than 400 inhabitants in 1820. An upswing occurred in the 1850s, as trade was liberalized and the logging
process developed.
It took until the construction of the railroad in 1879 before Östersund became a real city and actually gained the status as Jämtland's centre, at Frösön's expense. Thanks to the "farmer chieftain" Nils Larson i Tullus the railroad came to pass through the city itself instead of outside it, as planned. The railway from coast to coast across the then union between Sweden and Norway was finished 1882, connecting Östersund closer to Trondheim
and Sundsvall. Östersund then came to grow faster than any other Swedish city. After ten years it had passed 20 Swedish cities in population. The city attracted immigrants, a slight majority from the Jamtish countryside, though still with a high number of settlers from Southern Sweden. While Östersund was in its most intense state of growth popular movement
s emerged among the inhabitants. In Jämtland and Härjedalen the free minded
Good Templar movement (a part of the temperance movement
) came to dominate completely. In 1883, 700 of the city's total population of 3 000 were organized Good Templars. The greatest symbol of the movements grandeur was the Order House constructed 1885 in the city, Östersunds-Goodtemplars-Ordenshus. When one of the most prominent leaders, Joseph Malins
, visited the city he announced that it was the world's largest order house.
Many of the leading people behind the popular movements in Östersund saw industrialization as a significant threat towards the native districts and the old village and farmer community. The work from the movements made the city and its centre-right
governance extremely rejective towards industries. Instead they wanted to portray Östersund as a centre of out-door activities, culture, education
and tourism
. Industries were not allowed to threaten the good environment, and the social history
traditions.
In 1917 when the Great War was fought on the continent and with the February revolution
in Russia, starting the Russian Revolution also affected Östersund. Rationing led to lack of supplies and a revolution was feared. Some of the citizens, primarily soldiers, went on hunger strikes and at the first of May that year 4 000 demonstrators gathered in front of the city hall demanding lower prices on milk
and wood
. The year after the Spanish flu
spread like wildfire across the world. The city doctor in Östersund noted that "Östersund ought without objection have been more haunted by the flu than any other Swedish city", which is why Östersund was referred to by locals as spanska sjukans huvudstad, "capital of the spanish flu".
Despite the great depression
and several crisis resulting in a very high unemployment
rate Östersund continued to grow in the interwar period
. The municipal community Odenslund was incorporated into Östersund in 1918. The business world remained largely unaffected and Östersund continued being one of the least industrialized cities in Sweden. Instead Östersund continued to focus on wholesale
trade and became a centre of this in northern and north central Sweden. The city's central position was strengthened when Inlandsbanan
was constructed through Jämtland from the north to the south. During the interwar period the car and the bus became common. The first scheduled bus route was created in the 1920s between Östersund and the nearby town of Brunflo
. In the next decade well over 40 bus routes were functioning in Östersund. The dairy was located west of the bus square, Gustav III:s torg, at the shopping mall Kärnan's current whereabout. This square naturally become a central part of the city.
Östersund continued to grow after the Second World War. Lugnvik
was incorporated into the city in 1954 and Östersund was just like the rest of Jämtland affected by the Rehn-Meidner-model, though not in the same way. The Swedish Keynesian politic was launched in order to improve the mobility of the labour force. Jämtland was struck hard by this when the people moved from the countryside to cities, from inland to coast and from the north to the south. As an urban area Östersund was affected by the Million Programme
and urban districts like Körfältet were created.
The negative view towards industries were changed when the Social Democrats came to power for the first time in the city's history in 1952. Industries were enticed to Östersund through the national localization politic and industrial areas were created in Odenskog and Lugnvik. The development wasn't, as already mentioned, as good in the rest of Jämtland as it was in Östersund and as a counter act towards the governmental politic the Republic of Jamtland
was established in 1963. Östersund became the republic's "capital" and the home to the freedom festival Storsjöyran
.
Östersund continued to grow and in 1970 Frösö köping was made part of Östersund. In the year of 1971 a major reform occurred in Sweden creating large municipalities replacing all the older institutions and the new large municipality was named after the city. Just like in the rest of Sweden the public sector greatly expanded at this time. In 1960 the public sector of Sweden constituted about 30 per cent of Sweden's total gross domestic product
, in the middle of the 1980s the number had grown to 65 per cent. At the time it was here the jobs were, in the county board, the state and in the new municipality. The main reason for the large expansion were the expanded transfer payment
to the household
s that occurred, along with growing interest
and public consummation. Everything was founded by large tax raises. The entire 1970s was an expansive period. Besides the new industrial complex the Frösö bridge was constructed, a new police house, Z-kupolen (burned to the ground in 1989), Storsjöteatern, Folkets hus, urban district churches, malls etc. The County Administration board and the hospital expanded and large housing estates were constructed in Körfältet, Lugnvik and Odensala.
The city tried to acquire a "humanistic
college of higher learning" on Frösön already in the 1940s. A large tension existed between the cities in Norrland and Umeå
left the struggle victorious 1962. Östersund however required a "social college of higher learning" in 1971. Östersund is since 2005 one of the main campus sites of the Mid Sweden University
(Mittuniversitetet). A number of governmental offices have also been located to the city in recent years.
was founded in the city 1892, followed by the upgrading of Jämtlands fältjägarkår to Jämtlands fältjägarregemente I 23. This was done with the growing fear of a Russian assault whereas Jämtland-Trøndelag and Norrbotten
became the most prioritized defense-regions. The dissolution of the union Sweden-Norway contributed with enhancing Östersund as a military city strengthening its presence, the Field Ranger Regiment I 5
was located in the city 1910 and the Jämtland Air Force Wing F 4
came to Frösön 1926.
Östersund's importance as a garrison town grew when the city was connected to the Boden Fortress
, following the construction of Inlandsbanan.
After the fall of the Iron Curtain
, the destruction of the Berlin Wall
in 1989 and the Dissolution of the USSR in 1991 Sweden had lost its national threat and the demand for a strong defense organization was deemed unnecessary. The issue was debated throughout the 1990s and the final decision came in 2004 where all military presence in Östersund was ended. Upon delivering the message the Swedish Minister for Defence Leni Björklund
was publicly booed
by the city's inhabitants.
The ending of Östersund's status as a garrison town has however created a larger enthusiasm regarding the city's future as the private sector
has grown larger and more companies are being established, much of which is due to the financial compensation the State offered. The older areas reserved for military activities have been opened up and two more urban districts were made available.
Bohlin Ohlsson is the head of Jämtland County Administrative Board
(Länsstyrelsen i Jämtlands län), an administrative entity appointed by the Swedish Government
.
Östersund is also the seat of Jämtland County Council (Jämtlands läns landsting, located on Frösön
). The County Council is the elected assembly of Jämtland County. The County Council's responsibilities lie primarily within the public health care
system and transportation between the municipalities.
Östersund is the seat of Östersund Municipality
(Östersunds kommun). The legislative body of the municipality is the 67-member municipal assembly (kommunfullmäktige), elected by proportional representation for a four-year term. The assembly appoints the municipality's main governing body, the 15-member executive committee (kommunstyrelsen). The executive committee is headed by the Mayor
(kommunstyrelsens ordförande). Östersund has historically been dominated by the conservatives
, the freeminded
(later on Liberal People's Party
) and the social democrats
. Though contrary to Sweden on a national level Östersund's centre-right
parties long remained in majority. The situation changed first in 1952 when the social democrats were included and they received an own majority in 1962. In 1966 the agrian and rural
Centre Party
entered the scene, along with the minor Christian Democrat
and Communist
Parties. A new centre-right government was appointed and the Centre Party became the largest party in that coalition 1970. However since the 1980s the Social Democratic Party has been in power (excluding a term in the 1990s) supported by the communists (now simply Left Party) and occasionally the Green Party
(entered in 1982).
Jens Nilsson from the Social Democratic Party is the mayor of Östersund and has been so since 1997.
and the ninth biggest in Sweden with roughly 390 000 passengers 2005. The airport is one of few Swedish airport with incoming foreign charter traffic and the only one with considerable economic growth in that sector.
The European route E14
runs through Östersund from Trondheim to Sundsvall
and briefly merges with the European route E45
(referred to as Inlandsvägen
locally) coming from the north. The two roads are later split in Brunflo
where E14 continues heading east and E45 turns south again.
Östersund has similar railway communications. Mittnabotåget
operates both the Norwegian Meråkerbanen
from Trondheim to Storlien
and the Swedish Mittbanan
from Storlien to Sundsvall. Inlandsbanan
runs in the same direction as Inlandsvägen. Östersund is connected to Stockholm, Gothenburg
and Malmö
through long distance X2000
(high speed trains), InterCity
and night train. Local company Stadsbussarna i Östersund (literally: the City Buses in Östersund) has nine routes in the city.
As Östersund is located at shores of Storsjön, the great lake, it also has a harbour. There is also a harbour on the Frösö side of the strait. Several bridges span across Storsjön connecting Östersund with communities nearby, Frösöbron across Östersundet, Vallsundsbron from Frösön across Vallsundet to Annersia "the other side" and Rödöbron from Frösön to Rödön in Krokom Municipality.
Like the rest of Jämtland Östersund is heavily dominated by many small business
es. The city is the centre of trade and commerce in Jämtland County and has well over 300 different shops. The retail trade
's turnover
is 30 per cent higher than it ought to be, given the number of inhabitants the city has. Trade in the central business district
(Staden — the City) is mostly concentrated to the shopping and pedestrian street Prästgatan where large local shopping malls such as Kärnan and Mittpunkten along with department stores such as Åhléns
are located. Large clothing
companies such as H&M
, Lindex
and smaller like WESC
etc., approximately 50 restaurant
s, shoe stores, sporting goods retailers like Stadium and Intersport
, several supermarkets (Östersund has rather few convenience store
s) and much more. Storgatan, the street that runs parallel with Prästgatan is also lined with shops, restaurants and coffeehouses. Unlike Prästgatan this street is not a pedestrian street. Östersund is the city in Sweden with the most square metres of window display per capita. The most prominent figure in Östersund's business life throughout the 20th century was the car salesman (started out selling horses) Sven O. Persson, founder of Persson Invest, Byggelit and Bilbolaget. Nowadays the most distinguishing businessman is Maths O. Sundqvist, owner of several real estate
s in Östersund, including the entire urban district Stadsdel Norr through his real estate company Fabös (together with Peab).
Östersund has had a long history as a marketplace
with the already mentioned ancient Gregorie market, tracing its lineage back to the 11th century, in early March. However banned in 1914, it continued to be held a couple of years. In 1950, the market was reborn shortly and was completely resurrected in 1986, when the city celebrated its 200th anniversary, and has been held yearly since then. In 1948, when the markets were non-existent visions to restore Östersund's market traditions, in a modern version, were brought up. The result was the trade fair
Expo Norr, initiated 1950 in order to strengthen Östersund as the leading the centre of trade in the northern parts of Sweden. The trade fair is an annual event just like Gregorie market, though Expo Norr is held during the summer and not during the winter. Expo Norr is usually attended by 30 000 individuals every year.
Just like many other County capitals in Sweden the County Council and the Municipality are among the largest employers.
Besides trading and public services
Östersund has some larger companies such as Solectron
, Cybercom, Svenska Dagbladet
's customer service
, Volex, Husqvarna AB
, Swedbank
's telephone bank and Telia
. Companies such as the dairy cooperation Milko
and Inlandsbanan AB have located their corporate headquarters
in the city.
A national survey done by the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise
show that out of every company in Östersund Municipality 52 per cent are "very positive towards globalization
", thus ranking Östersund at number eight in Sweden as the most globalization friendly Municipality.
s, pubs and nightclub
s. The city has a long café tradition, as they were important early on for the rich association life that came with the popular movements. It was natural for visitors from the countryside, the military and tourists to spend time with each other and the towners at a café. At one of the city's cafés the sandwich cake
is said to have been invented.
Östersund is the cultural centre of Jämtland County and home to the prize winning museum Jamtli
. The museum has both an enclosed exhibition area and an outdoor area which contains a number of historical buildings from all over the county, depicting the old lives of peasants, the early city of Östersund and the Scandinavian inland herding. The museum exhibition hosts an interesting set of tapestries, the Överhogdal tapestries
, showing a rich imagery of both Norse and Christian origin from the Viking Age
. The mythical Storsjöodjuret
(Great Lake Monster) has an exhibit of its own. Another remnant from the Viking age is Frösöstenen, one of the world's most northerly rune stones located on Frösön, the island of Freyr
.
The county library, Jämtlands läns bibliotek is located in the city. It is the oldest county library in Sweden, being founded in 1816 by the will of professor Carl Zetterström. As the library grew it was moved to a bigger facility. The older building is now situated beside the old church in Kyrkparken.
Lake Storsjön has been trafficked for a long time and the steamships S/S Thomée and S/S Östersund are still in operation every summer. Contrary to most boats, they are seen as males and not females. S/S Thomée is however the only one that sets sail from Östersund's harbour. S/S Östersund set sail from Arvesund, located at Storsjön's western shore but makes visits to Jamtli's steamboat jetty
.
Frösö Zoo is one of Sweden's largest zoological gardens with exotic animals. It has roughly 700 different animals like Siberian tigers, lions, polar wolves, monkeys etc. Frözö Zoo also has a tropic house, a biological museum and an amusement park
. Outside of Östersund in the village Orrviken
there's a Moose Zoo, called Moose Garden allowing close encounters with tame moose.
Färgfabriken ('the colour factory') is a culture experimental centre based in Stockholm, that perceive itself as a laboratory of contemporary art. A branch named Färgfabriken Norr has as of late been established in Östersund and has hosted an "at large" exhibition of Östersund and a The New World Bank-conference with Noreena Hertz
, Kjell A. Nordström
and Malcolm McLaren
.
Gaaltije, the centre for South Sami culture, opened in 1999 and is a living source of knowledge for South Sami culture, history and business.
Gamla Tingshuset, Holds a small cinema
, a café, a small venue and practice halls. It is usually a meeting place for the town youngs.
are expressed in ÖP and views of the Swedish Social Democratic Party
are expressed in LT. Länstidningen is unique in Sweden, as it is the only Swedish newspaper with press support
that has ever made itself non-dependent
on state subsidy. Much of the paper's success is ascribed to the then editor-in-chief awarded with the great journalism award
. Since 2006, the newspaper has been dependent on state subsidy. Nowadays, the media group Mittmedia owns both newspapers.
Two free daily newspaper
s exist in the city, 100 procent Östersund and Lokaltidningen Storsjön.
Local radio station
s include Radio Jämtland (a part of Sveriges Radio
), One FM
and Modern Times Group
's Rix FM.
has its largest campus site in Östersund with well over 7 000 students. The Mid Sweden University was a university college (högskola
) named Mitthögskolan until it was granted university status in 2005, making it the youngest university in Sweden. Mitthögskolan was the result of the merger between the University College of Sundsvall/Härnösand
(Högskolan i Sundsvall/Härnösand) and the University College of Östersund (Högskolan i Östersund)
Östersund is a centre for the research in Social Sciences (Business Administration, Psychology
, Sociology
and Political Science
) and Social Work, whilst the research in Health Sciences is split between Östersund and Sundsvall.
The city has several secondary schools (gymnasieskolor
) whereas Palmcrantzskolan (PC) and Wargentinsskolan (Wargen) are the two largest. Among the smaller are Primrose, John Bauer, VTC-gymnasiet and Östersund's gymnasieskola.
hosts and was also hosting both the 1970 and 2008
Biathlon World Championships.
The cross-country ski stadium is located two kilometres from the city centre and is one of the most well-equipped and spectator friendly ski stadiums in Sweden. The stadium is also internationally renowned due to the topography of its ski tracks, the compact track-system and the fact that Östersund is usually quite a reliable locality for snow during the winter months. A number of biathlon
world cup races have been held at the stadium as well as several national championships in cross-country skiing.
Nationellt Vintersportcentrum (NVC, Swedish Winter Sports Research Centre) is a research and training project run by the sports movement, the university, the municipality and the county council. The Swedish Olympic Committee
(SOC) use its lab for various tests.
Östersund, in association with the neighboring municipality of Åre
, had plans to be the candidate of Sweden for the organization of the XXIInd Olympic Winter Games, the 2014 Winter Olympics
, but the candidacy proposal was rejected by the government. It would have been the fourth attempt of this city (after 1994
where Östersund lost the bid
with the score 45-39 to Lillehammer
in the final round, 1998
and 2002
).
Östersund has a basketball
team in Sweden's highest division (Ligan
), Jämtland Basket
.
Östersund's Fallskärmsklubb is the oldest of Sweden's drop zones and was formed in 1958. The very first civilian parachute jump was done actually on the ice of Storsjön in February 1956. The jumpers were officers from the Swedish Parachute rangers regiment that also wanted to jump on their spare time. Östersund's Fallskärmsklubb is today localized to Optand's airfields, approximately 13 km south from Östersund where one carries out education of students and sky diving for the experienced jumpers all year around with the exception from late autumn until early winter.
Other sports clubs include:
, Norway
(since 1946)
Urban areas in Sweden
Urban area is a common English translation of the Swedish term tätort. The official term in English, used by Statistics Sweden, is, however, locality. There are 1,940 localities in Sweden . They could be compared with census-designated places in the United States.A tätort in Sweden has a minimum of...
(city) in Jämtland
Jämtland
Jämtland or Jamtland is a historical province or landskap in the center of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders to Härjedalen and Medelpad in the south, Ångermanland in the east, Lapland in the north and Trøndelag and Norway in the west...
in the middle of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality
Östersund Municipality
Östersund Municipality is a municipality in Jämtland County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Östersund, which is also the county seat of Jämtland County....
and the capital of Jämtland County
Jämtland County
Jämtland County is a county or län in the middle of Sweden consisting of the provinces of Jämtland and Härjedalen, along with minor parts of Hälsingland and Ångermanland, plus two tiny uninhabited strips of Lapland and Dalarna. Jämtland County constitutes 12 percent of Sweden's total area, and is...
. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth largest lake, Storsjön
Storsjön
Storsjön is the fifth largest lake in Sweden, with an area of 464 km² and a greatest depth of 74 m. It is located in the province of Jämtland in modern Jämtland County. From Storsjön runs the river Indalsälven and the lake contains the major island Frösön...
, opposite the island Frösön
Frösön
Frösön is a small island in the lake Storsjön located west of the city Östersund in Jämtland. For ages this island was the regional centre of Jämtland....
, and is the only city in Jämtland. Östersund is the region's cultural and economical centre and by tradition a city of trade and commerce. Östersund had one of the most extensive garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
s in Sweden prior to its close down in the early 21st century. The city is the Mid Sweden University
Mid Sweden University
Mid Sweden University is a Swedish state university located in the region around the geographical center of Sweden, with three campuses in the cities of Östersund, Sundsvall and Härnösand.-History:...
's largest campus site with approximately 7 000 students. With a total population of roughly 60,000 Östersund is the 24th most populous city in Sweden and the 46th most populous city in Scandinavia.
The city was the only Swedish city founded and chartered in the 18th century. Östersund was founded in order to create a trade monopoly over Jämtland whose inhabitants' lucrative trade annoyed the Swedish crown. The intention was to pursue the local farmers to deliver merchandise to middlemen in Östersund, but the population opposed this economic philosophy, and Östersund long remained small. It took until the end of the 19th century for Östersund to truly become a city, after the arrival of the railroad and the economic liberalization
Economic liberalization
Economic liberalization is a very broad term that usually refers to fewer government regulations and restrictions in the economy in exchange for greater participation of private entities; the doctrine is associated with classical liberalism...
of that time.
Östersund is situated in inland Scandinavia and connected to Sundsvall
Sundsvall
-External links:* - Official site from Nordisk Familjebok - Sundsvalls tourist information bureau. - The alternative guide to Sundsvall. - Blog with photos from Sundsvall....
in the east at the Swedish coast, and Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
in the west at the shores of the Norwegian sea
Norwegian Sea
The Norwegian Sea is a marginal sea in the North Atlantic Ocean, northwest of Norway. It is located between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea and adjoins the North Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Barents Sea to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a...
. Östersund is located in the middle of Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, in the middle of Sweden, in the middle of Jämtland County and in the middle of Östersund Municipality. As the most centrally located city in Sweden, the city credits itself as the centre of Sweden
Geographical center of Sweden
The geographical center of Sweden is contested amongst at least two locations.The oldest and most famous geographical center of Sweden is Flataklocken, a spot next to Lake Munkby in Ånge, Medelpad at . The site was identified in 1947 after an initiative by the newspaperman Gustaf von Platen...
.
Östersund is marketed as Vinterstaden — Winter City. Winter City as a project is run by the Municipality together with city enterprises
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
. Östersund has had a long history as a centre of outdoor activities with a modern cross-country ski
Cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...
stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
and an actual piste
Piste
A piste is a marked ski run or path down a mountain for snow skiing, snowboarding, or other mountain sports. The term is European, from the French for trail or track, synonymous with trail, slope, or groomed run in North America....
in the city itself. Östersund has also hosted several World Championships in various sports such as biathlon
Biathlon
Biathlon is a term used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines. However, biathlon usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting...
, speed skating
Speed skating
Speed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...
and ski orienteering along with Swedish National Championships in cross country skiing and snocross
Snocross
Snocross is a racing sport involving racing specialized high performance snowmobiles on natural or artificially-made tracks consisting of tight turns, banked corners, steep jumps and obstacles. Riders race at speed of up to 60 miles per hour...
. The city has been the applicant city of Sweden for several Winter Olympic Games
Winter Olympic Games
The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...
, but has yet to host one. The precursor to the Winter Olympic Games, the Nordic Games
Nordic Games
The Nordic Games was the first international multi-sport event that focused primarily on winter sports, and was held at varying intervals between 1901 and 1926. It was organized by Sweden’s Central Association for the Promotion of Sports, and more specifically by Viktor Balck, a member of that...
, were however held at several occasions in the city, due to lack of snow in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
Geography
Östersund is the only city in the province and it is located on the shore of the fifth largest lake in Sweden, StorsjönStorsjön
Storsjön is the fifth largest lake in Sweden, with an area of 464 km² and a greatest depth of 74 m. It is located in the province of Jämtland in modern Jämtland County. From Storsjön runs the river Indalsälven and the lake contains the major island Frösön...
. The area surrounding this lake is commonly referred to as Storsjöbygden and this area has been described as the World's northern-most located genuine agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
in the inland with continental climate
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...
.
The city sprawls along the eastern slopes of lake Storsjön and most of the city and the city core itself is located on the mainland, facing the non mainland part of the city, the island of Frösön
Frösön
Frösön is a small island in the lake Storsjön located west of the city Östersund in Jämtland. For ages this island was the regional centre of Jämtland....
, which for a very long time was the actual centre of Jämtland. Today, a sizeable part of the city's population live on the slopes of the island that face the city centre. Östersund is a bimunicipal town because a minor part of it with roughly 400 inhabitants is actually situated in Krokom Municipality
Krokom Municipality
Krokom Municipality is a municipality in Jämtland County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Krokom.The present municipality was formed in 1974, when the former municipalities of Alsen, Föllinge, Offerdal and Rödön were amalgamated...
.
The city spans across Östersundet and the city was named after this strait. Östersund can be directly translated from Swedish to English as "East Sound
Sound (geography)
In geography a sound or seaway is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight and wider than a fjord; or it may be defined as a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land ....
". The name of the strait derives from an older Jamtish
Jamtlandic
Jamtlandic or Jamtish is a well-defined group of dialects of Scandinavia. It is spoken in the [Swedish] province of Jämtland...
name now present in the form Åstersånn.
Climate
Östersund has a temperateTemperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
continental climate and is located in the far north of the north temperate climate zone. The cold Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
winds that occasionally find their way to the city are called nordvästan (the north-westerner) or kallvästan (the cold-westerner) locally.
However the winter climate is much warmer than most locations at similar latitudes. This is due to the gulf stream
Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean...
and the many passages in the mountain range, bringing warmer Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
winds to the city during winters. This somewhat maritime character also makes the summers in the city rather cool, in comparison to other towns in inland Scandinavia, which all have a more continental climate with cold winters and warm summers.
Though Östersund is in fact affected by the gulf stream it lacks the high frequency of rain
Rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
following the currents. This is due to the Scandinavian Mountain Range acting as a natural barrier, receiving most of the precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
, giving Östersund and the surrounding area a rain deficit.
Östersund has a high exposition of sunlight and was the most sunny city in Sweden in the summer of 2007 (July 1 - August 9) with 654 hours of sun.
Cityscape
Östersund was laid out with roads spanning from north to south, countered by several alleyAlley
An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane found in urban areas, often for pedestrians only, which usually runs between or behind buildings. In older cities and towns in Europe, alleys are often what is left of a medieval street network, or a right of way or ancient footpath in an urban setting...
s from east to west, which is why an alley in Östersund is synonymous with a road leading down towards Storsjön. From the inner city one may gaze upon Storsjön, Frösön and the Jamtish fell
Fell
“Fell” is a word used to refer to mountains, or certain types of mountainous landscape, in Scandinavia, the Isle of Man, and parts of northern England.- Etymology :...
region with snow-clad mountains. This was made possible due to the topography
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
and the grid plan
Grid plan
The grid plan, grid street plan or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid...
.
The regularity in Östersund's road system and the slanting alleys leading from higher altitudes down towards Storsjön have created the "windows to the west" characteristic and unique to Östersund as a city. The alleys, often seen as rather steep, have created the illusion that the houses in the city core are climbing to higher grounds. These houses were conformed upon their construction to fit with the slopes.
The first city plan of Östersund was made with several large segments in the core being reserved as green areas
Green
Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
. Östersund was thus planned as a green city and special lots, e.g. kryddgårdstomter "spice garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
lots" were created along with construction lots. These lots shifted with a construction lot alternating with a spice garden lot. The garden lots are no longer existent since they too have been constructed upon. Many of the fences that separated each lot from another with trees and verdure were left intact. The large green areas are still present, with park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
s such as Kyrkparken, Österängsparken and Badhusparken being the most prominent. Badhusparken was once the location of a large bath house
Public bathing
Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness. The term public may confuse some people, as some types of public baths are restricted depending on membership, gender, religious affiliation, or other reasons. As societies have changed, public baths have been replaced as private bathing...
(hence the name Badhus-) though it was torn down in 1881 when the railway was constructed. A new larger two-storey pompous bath house was later built on poles a few metres from the shore, enabling the population to bathe in the waters of Storsjön during summers. This house was also torn down, when a new bath house with heated water was founded in 1938.
When Östersund started to grow as a city in the late 19th century the houses consisted predominantly of wood, though stone had become popular in the central parts. These houses were heavily characterized by Neo-Gothicism
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
and Neo-Renaissance
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
. A very common feature of these houses were tower
Tower
A tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires....
s, some even resembling those on old castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
s like the one on Hotell Grand at the main square. In the early 20th century a new age had come and in the main road, Prästgatan, the new age came fiercely. The wooden houses were replaced by stone buildings, because a city's well being was measured in how many stone buildings it had. At the same time military barracks were constructed in connection to the older settlement. Jugendstil became popular too as an addition to the National Romantic style
National Romantic Style
The National Romantic style was a Nordic architectural style that was part of the national romantic movement during the late 19th and early 20th century. Designers turned to early Medieval and even prehistoric precedents to construct a style appropriate to the perceived character of a people...
architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
.
In the 1930s, the functionalistic style
Functionalism (architecture)
Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is a matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern...
made itself apparent in Östersund's outskirts, which were growing. In the 1940s, the city was made more car-friendly and the city was first and foremost planned for cars. Later the sanitarian issues was brought up, which resulted in the construction of a sewage treatment works and the waste water was no longer flushed directly into Storsjön. Östersund was also affected by the Million Programme
Million Programme
The Million Programme is the common name for an ambitious housing programme implemented in Sweden between 1965 and 1974 by the governing Swedish Social Democratic Party to make sure everyone could have a home at a reasonable price. The aim of the programme was to build a million new dwellings in a...
, though to a lesser extent than other cities. During the same period older buildings such as Hotell Grand (to make room for Storsjöteatern), Cellfängelset (a jail
Jail
A jail is a short-term detention facility in the United States and Canada.Jail may also refer to:In entertainment:*Jail , a 1966 Malayalam movie*Jail , a 2009 Bollywood movie...
located at the beginning of Prästgatan), Flickskolan (the girl school next to the city hall, where the current county library is located) and Västra stationen (at Badhusparken) were torn down. The local media described it all as e.g. "demolishing madness". When the Good Templar house was threatened in order to widen Rådhusgatan the city's inhabitants had had enough and the building was saved.
The buildings along Storgatan (literally: "the great road") with entire segments intact since the 1880s are considered one of the best preserved city settlements in Sweden. The wooden façade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
s are rich with details and the house are relatively low, short and slim. A great amount of work was put down on creating a balance between details and entirety. Parallel with Storgatan lies Prästgatan — "the priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
road", Östersund's main shopping street. The buildings between the two roads are often connected and the roads create small rooms mostly inaccessible for keen winds. These so called rooms also stimulate the social life on the streets.
Stortorget — the main town square
Town square
A town square is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town used for community gatherings. Other names for town square are civic center, city square, urban square, market square, public square, and town green.Most town squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets,...
in central Östersund is one of six "closed squares" built in Sweden, the others being the ones in Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
, Karlstad
Karlstad
Karlstad is a city, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city had 61,685 inhabitants in 2010 out of a municipal total that during the first quarter 2010 was 84,885 inhabitants...
, Vimmerby
Vimmerby
- External links :* - Official site* - Theme Park...
, Piteå
Piteå
Piteå is a locality and the seat of Piteå Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. The town has 22,650 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 41,000 in 2008.- Geography :...
and Haparanda
Haparanda
Haparanda is a locality and the seat of Haparanda Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 4,778 inhabitants in 2005. It is adjacent to Tornio, Finland...
. It was created through indentation in four different blocks to deliberately create an open air room with openings to every direction. A style deriving from how cities were planned during the Renaissance. However the town square lost its original shape when it was "opened up" and expanded towards the lake. Stortorget has long been the city's main market place and core, it is also here that the thousand year old market Gregorie market is held each year in March. The city festival Storsjöyran
Storsjöyran
Storsjöyran, or just Yran is an annual Swedish musical event going back to the early sixties.-Festival history:...
has Stortorget as its main centre.
Districts and housing estates
Before Östersund was established the population in the area was very scarce. In Odensala and Torvalla older settlements existed, the name Odensala can be derived from the Viking age and the Halls of OdinOdin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
(though Torvalla means "dry wealds" with no reference to Thor
Thor
In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...
). These two villages were later incorporated into Östersund and are today two major urban districts. Besides them the urban districts of Odenskog, Odensvik, Odenslund, Karlslund, Erikslund, Lugnvik
Lugnvik
Lugnvik is a locality situated in Kramfors Municipality, Västernorrland County, Sweden with 349 inhabitants in 2010....
, Lillänge and Söder along with the new district Stadsdel Norr are found on the mainland. On Frösön, recently included into the city are the three urban districts Hornsberg, Mjälle and Valla.
The central parts of Östersund are a part of the urban district Staden — "the city", which has become synonymous with Östersund for many people living in the nearby villages and towns. As Östersund is the only city in the area and nearest city for many it is common to call it Stan, though the dative form
Dative case
The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
Staa has increasingly grown unusual. The residents of Östersunds are referred to as östersundare, though local ruralists call them stassbon "towners", and stassbo "towner", in singular
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
.
Landmarks
City hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall or a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city...
. It is 51 meters tall and contains 136 rooms. It is the greatest constructional symbol of the National Romantic architecture in Östersund. The city hall looks almost like a fortress and affiliates especially to the local art of Jämtland. The bell tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
is of typical Jamtish design shaped like an onion
Onion
The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
, the local sculpture Olof Ahlberg made most of the sculpture details and the ornaments are made from Jamtish limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
. Frans Bertil Wallberg's city hall was seen by contemporary colleagues as the best of modern Swedish architecture. The main part of the building is accentuated by a grand tower and a monumental stairway. It is accompanied by only one wing, the north wing, as the second, south wing, was torn down in the 1970s.
A recently built landmark is Arctura, named after Jämtland's provincial star Arcturus, a large hot water accumulator tank. Due to its appearance it is referred to as Termosen (the Thermos
Vacuum flask
A vacuum flask is an insulating storage vessel which keeps its contents hotter or cooler than its surroundings. Invented by Sir James Dewar in 1892, the vacuum flask consists of two flasks, placed one within the other and joined at the neck...
). At night the 65 meter building is illuminated with various lights like sunrise
Sunrise
Sunrise is the instant at which the upper edge of the Sun appears above the horizon in the east. Sunrise should not be confused with dawn, which is the point at which the sky begins to lighten, some time before the sun itself appears, ending twilight...
and the Aurora Borealis
Aurora (astronomy)
An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...
.
The large church is a monumental feature in Östersund's cityscape. It is a basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
made of bricks with clear distinguished aisle. The quire is three-sided and the large steeple
Steeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
is facing the west: Storsjön and the fells of Oviken.
History
Lake Storsjön's shores have long been inhabited. Though the area where Östersund is situated was for a very long time Frösön's link to the east mainland. Frösön, the island of the Norse god Freyr
Freyr
Freyr is one of the most important gods of Norse paganism. Freyr was highly associated with farming, weather and, as a phallic fertility god, Freyr "bestows peace and pleasure on mortals"...
, was originally the centre of the region and it was here the only inland Scandinavian hill fort
Hill fort
A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...
, Mjälleborgen, was built around 300 AD. The ancient Scandinavian thing
Thing (assembly)
A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
Jamtamót
Jamtamót
Jamtamót was the old assembly of Jämtland. Unlike other Scandinavian things, it is referred to as a mót, not þing, both meaning 'assembly'. Instead, the word mót is found in e.g...
was held on this island, the christening of Jämtland begun here and it was here the World's northern-most raised runestone, Frösö Runestone
Frösö Runestone
Frösöstenen is the northern-most raised runestone in the World and Jämtland's only runestone. It originally stood at the tip of ferry terminal on the sound between the island of Frösön and Östersund.On it is inscribed:...
, was risen.
Plans regarding the foundation of a Swedish city or köping
Köping
This article deals with the Swedish denomination for a market town. For the city, see Köping, Sweden. For the municipality, see Köping Municipality....
(market town, "Chipping") in Jämtland existed amongst governmental officials already after the previously Norwegian province was ceded from Denmark-Norway in 1645. Queen Christina
Christina of Sweden
Christina , later adopted the name Christina Alexandra, was Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora...
demanded the establishment of a sconce
Sconce (fortification)
A Sconce is a small protective fortification, such as an earthwork often placed on a mound as a defensive work for artillery. It was used primarily in Northern Europe from the late Middle Ages until the 19th century. This type of fortification was common during the English Civil War, and the...
on Andersön
Anderson
-People:* Anderson Cooper, American television personality, son of Gloria Vanderbilt* Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira, Manchester United football player-Places:In Canada:* Anderson, British Columbia* Anderson Bay, British Columbia...
shortly after the province became Swedish, this sconce would together with Frösö sconce secure the Swedish control over Jämtland.County Administrative Board of Jämtland (Swedish) Christina's intention was to locate the "Jamts' city" within this fortification
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
. In order to construct the sconce the local inhabitants were coerced into forced labour 1651 but after protests and lack of capital
Capital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
the project was ended in 1654.
In 1758, the plans were brought back up through an initiative from the chief financial officer
Chief financial officer
The chief financial officer or Chief financial and operating officer is a corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of the corporation. This officer is also responsible for financial planning and record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to higher management...
Pehr Schissler and the proposition did however initiate a new debate whether or not a city was to be established in Jämtland, in order to counteract the trading and faring traditions of Jämtland's farmers. Several other attempts at constraition had previously been taken, and deemed unsatisfactory. Östersund was founded and given its charter by Monarch
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
Gustav III of Sweden
Gustav III of Sweden
Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....
the 23 October in 1786, shortly after the outskirt of the Odensala farmers' lands were bought for the purpose. Several other places had been suggested, like Huså
Husa
Husa is a village in the Ølve district of Kvinnherad municipality, Norway....
the then largest settlement in Jämtland along with Krokom
Krokom
Krokom is a locality and the seat of Krokom Municipality in Jämtland County, Sweden with 2,087 inhabitants in 2005.- References :...
, Sunne and Ede outside of Brunflo
Brunflo
Brunflo is a locality situated in Östersund Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,916 inhabitants in 2005. It is situated some 15 km south-east of Östersund....
. Frösön was also a candidate but the lot fell on Östersund, as it was deemed most favourable. The only thing actually located in the area at the time was the main road and the bridge to Frösön. Östersund was upon foundation freed from taxes during a 20 year timespan and completely liberated from trade regulations and guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
order. In other remote locations of the Nordic region, similar cities were founded, like Reykjavik
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
on Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
the very same year, Tromsø
Tromsø
Tromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...
(1794) in Northern Norway and Tampere
Tampere
Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of , growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in...
(1775) and Kuopio
Kuopio
Kuopio is a city and a municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia, Finland. A population of makes it the ninth biggest city in the country. The city has a total area of , of which is water and half forest...
(1782) in the Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
inland
Inland
Inland is an area of land away from the coast or shore line. It usually refers to the interior part of a country or region.Inland may refer to:* Inland Fräkne Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden...
. Östersund is however the only city in present day Sweden to have been founded in the 18th century.
Just like any other city founded by state officials miles away, the city developed extremely poorly and had to struggle in its infancy. The State tried to pursue the Jamtish traders on Frösön to migrate to the new city but they had no intentions of leaving such a rich parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
with fertile soils Frösön consisted of in favour of the swamp and marches across the strait. During its first 50 years the city's population only grew (on average) with eight people per year. The city did become the capital of the newly founded county consisting of the provinces Jämtland and Härjedalen
Härjedalen
' is a historical province or landskap in the centre of Sweden. It borders the country of Norway as well as the provinces of Dalarna, Hälsingland, Medelpad, and Jämtland...
in 1810, meaning that a county residence was built and a county administrative board was located to the city. Though Östersund remained as a de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
farmer village with less than 400 inhabitants in 1820. An upswing occurred in the 1850s, as trade was liberalized and the logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
process developed.
It took until the construction of the railroad in 1879 before Östersund became a real city and actually gained the status as Jämtland's centre, at Frösön's expense. Thanks to the "farmer chieftain" Nils Larson i Tullus the railroad came to pass through the city itself instead of outside it, as planned. The railway from coast to coast across the then union between Sweden and Norway was finished 1882, connecting Östersund closer to Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
and Sundsvall. Östersund then came to grow faster than any other Swedish city. After ten years it had passed 20 Swedish cities in population. The city attracted immigrants, a slight majority from the Jamtish countryside, though still with a high number of settlers from Southern Sweden. While Östersund was in its most intense state of growth popular movement
Popular Movement
The Popular Movement is a conservative liberal party in Morocco established in 1957 by the Berber Caid Mahjoubi Aherdane with help from Dr. Abdelkrim al-Khatib who founded later a splinter party that became the Justice and Development Party.The present party results from a 25 March 2006 merger...
s emerged among the inhabitants. In Jämtland and Härjedalen the free minded
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
Good Templar movement (a part of the temperance movement
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
) came to dominate completely. In 1883, 700 of the city's total population of 3 000 were organized Good Templars. The greatest symbol of the movements grandeur was the Order House constructed 1885 in the city, Östersunds-Goodtemplars-Ordenshus. When one of the most prominent leaders, Joseph Malins
Joseph Malins
Joseph Malins a temperance activist was born at 7, Askew Place, Worcester on 21 October 1844. He emigrated to the USA with his wife and found work as a painter of railway wagons....
, visited the city he announced that it was the world's largest order house.
Many of the leading people behind the popular movements in Östersund saw industrialization as a significant threat towards the native districts and the old village and farmer community. The work from the movements made the city and its centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
governance extremely rejective towards industries. Instead they wanted to portray Östersund as a centre of out-door activities, culture, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
. Industries were not allowed to threaten the good environment, and the social history
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
traditions.
In 1917 when the Great War was fought on the continent and with the February revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
in Russia, starting the Russian Revolution also affected Östersund. Rationing led to lack of supplies and a revolution was feared. Some of the citizens, primarily soldiers, went on hunger strikes and at the first of May that year 4 000 demonstrators gathered in front of the city hall demanding lower prices on milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
and wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
. The year after the Spanish flu
Spanish flu
The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
spread like wildfire across the world. The city doctor in Östersund noted that "Östersund ought without objection have been more haunted by the flu than any other Swedish city", which is why Östersund was referred to by locals as spanska sjukans huvudstad, "capital of the spanish flu".
Despite the great depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and several crisis resulting in a very high unemployment
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
rate Östersund continued to grow in the interwar period
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
. The municipal community Odenslund was incorporated into Östersund in 1918. The business world remained largely unaffected and Östersund continued being one of the least industrialized cities in Sweden. Instead Östersund continued to focus on wholesale
Wholesale
Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...
trade and became a centre of this in northern and north central Sweden. The city's central position was strengthened when Inlandsbanan
Inlandsbanan
-External links:* - Official site* - Information for railpass travellers...
was constructed through Jämtland from the north to the south. During the interwar period the car and the bus became common. The first scheduled bus route was created in the 1920s between Östersund and the nearby town of Brunflo
Brunflo
Brunflo is a locality situated in Östersund Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,916 inhabitants in 2005. It is situated some 15 km south-east of Östersund....
. In the next decade well over 40 bus routes were functioning in Östersund. The dairy was located west of the bus square, Gustav III:s torg, at the shopping mall Kärnan's current whereabout. This square naturally become a central part of the city.
Östersund continued to grow after the Second World War. Lugnvik
Lugnvik
Lugnvik is a locality situated in Kramfors Municipality, Västernorrland County, Sweden with 349 inhabitants in 2010....
was incorporated into the city in 1954 and Östersund was just like the rest of Jämtland affected by the Rehn-Meidner-model, though not in the same way. The Swedish Keynesian politic was launched in order to improve the mobility of the labour force. Jämtland was struck hard by this when the people moved from the countryside to cities, from inland to coast and from the north to the south. As an urban area Östersund was affected by the Million Programme
Million Programme
The Million Programme is the common name for an ambitious housing programme implemented in Sweden between 1965 and 1974 by the governing Swedish Social Democratic Party to make sure everyone could have a home at a reasonable price. The aim of the programme was to build a million new dwellings in a...
and urban districts like Körfältet were created.
Republic of Jamtland
The United Republics of Jamtland, Herjeådalen and Ravund is a part serious part humorous culture and marketing project, with regionalist and historical elements based in the Swedish County of Jämtland, located in the middle of Scandinavia.-History:The Republic of Jamtland was founded in 1963 as a...
was established in 1963. Östersund became the republic's "capital" and the home to the freedom festival Storsjöyran
Storsjöyran
Storsjöyran, or just Yran is an annual Swedish musical event going back to the early sixties.-Festival history:...
.
Östersund continued to grow and in 1970 Frösö köping was made part of Östersund. In the year of 1971 a major reform occurred in Sweden creating large municipalities replacing all the older institutions and the new large municipality was named after the city. Just like in the rest of Sweden the public sector greatly expanded at this time. In 1960 the public sector of Sweden constituted about 30 per cent of Sweden's total gross domestic product
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
, in the middle of the 1980s the number had grown to 65 per cent. At the time it was here the jobs were, in the county board, the state and in the new municipality. The main reason for the large expansion were the expanded transfer payment
Transfer payment
In economics, a transfer payment is a redistribution of income in the market system. These payments are considered to be exhaustive because they do not directly absorb resources or create output...
to the household
Household
The household is "the basic residential unit in which economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and carried out"; [the household] "may or may not be synonymous with family"....
s that occurred, along with growing interest
Interest
Interest is a fee paid by a borrower of assets to the owner as a form of compensation for the use of the assets. It is most commonly the price paid for the use of borrowed money, or money earned by deposited funds....
and public consummation. Everything was founded by large tax raises. The entire 1970s was an expansive period. Besides the new industrial complex the Frösö bridge was constructed, a new police house, Z-kupolen (burned to the ground in 1989), Storsjöteatern, Folkets hus, urban district churches, malls etc. The County Administration board and the hospital expanded and large housing estates were constructed in Körfältet, Lugnvik and Odensala.
The city tried to acquire a "humanistic
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
college of higher learning" on Frösön already in the 1940s. A large tension existed between the cities in Norrland and Umeå
Umeå
- Transport :The road infrastructure in Umeå is well-developed, with two European highways passing through the city. About 4 km from the city centre is the Umeå City Airport...
left the struggle victorious 1962. Östersund however required a "social college of higher learning" in 1971. Östersund is since 2005 one of the main campus sites of the Mid Sweden University
Mid Sweden University
Mid Sweden University is a Swedish state university located in the region around the geographical center of Sweden, with three campuses in the cities of Östersund, Sundsvall and Härnösand.-History:...
(Mittuniversitetet). A number of governmental offices have also been located to the city in recent years.
Garrison town
Östersund became a garrison town when the Norrland Artillery Regiment A 4Norrlands artilleriregemente
Norrlands artilleriregemente , designation A 4, was a Swedish Army artillery regiment that traced its origins back to the 19th century. The regiment's soldiers were originally recruited from the provinces of Norrland...
was founded in the city 1892, followed by the upgrading of Jämtlands fältjägarkår to Jämtlands fältjägarregemente I 23. This was done with the growing fear of a Russian assault whereas Jämtland-Trøndelag and Norrbotten
Norrbotten
Norrbotten is a Swedish province in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland.- Administration :...
became the most prioritized defense-regions. The dissolution of the union Sweden-Norway contributed with enhancing Östersund as a military city strengthening its presence, the Field Ranger Regiment I 5
Jämtlands fältjägarregemente
Jämtlands fältjägarregemente , also I 5 or I 23, was a Swedish Army infantry regiment located in the province of Jämtland that traced its origins back to the 17th century.- History :...
was located in the city 1910 and the Jämtland Air Force Wing F 4
F 4 Frösön
F 4 Frösön, Kungliga Jämtlands Flygflottilj, Royal Jämtland Air Force Wing, or simply "F 4", is a former Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located at Åre Östersund Airport outside Östersund on Frösön in the middle of Sweden....
came to Frösön 1926.
Östersund's importance as a garrison town grew when the city was connected to the Boden Fortress
Boden Fortress
Boden Fortress is a modern fortress consisting of several major and minor forts and fortifications surrounding the city of Boden, Norrbotten, in northern Sweden. The fortress was originally intended to stop or delay attacks from the east or coastal assaults, which at the time of construction meant...
, following the construction of Inlandsbanan.
After the fall of the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
, the destruction of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
in 1989 and the Dissolution of the USSR in 1991 Sweden had lost its national threat and the demand for a strong defense organization was deemed unnecessary. The issue was debated throughout the 1990s and the final decision came in 2004 where all military presence in Östersund was ended. Upon delivering the message the Swedish Minister for Defence Leni Björklund
Leni Björklund
Leni Christina Elisabeth Björklund is a Swedish Social Democratic politician. She served as Minister for Defence from 2002 to 2006.Leni Björklund grew up in Örebro. She graduated from Uppsala University with a B.A...
was publicly booed
Booing
Booing is an act of showing displeasure for someone or something, generally an entertainer, by loudly yelling boo! or making other noises of disparagement, such as hissing. People may make hand signs at the entertainer, such as the thumbs down sign...
by the city's inhabitants.
The ending of Östersund's status as a garrison town has however created a larger enthusiasm regarding the city's future as the private sector
Private sector
In economics, the private sector is that part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state...
has grown larger and more companies are being established, much of which is due to the financial compensation the State offered. The older areas reserved for military activities have been opened up and two more urban districts were made available.
Politics and governance
Östersund is the capital of Jämtland County and thus, the county governor Britt Bohlin Ohlsson reside in the city.Bohlin Ohlsson is the head of Jämtland County Administrative Board
County Administrative Boards of Sweden
A County Administrative Board is a Government appointed board of a County in Sweden. It is led by a Governor or Landshövding appointed for a term of six years and the list of succession, in most cases, stretches back to 1634 when the counties were created...
(Länsstyrelsen i Jämtlands län), an administrative entity appointed by the Swedish Government
Government of Sweden
The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden is the supreme executive authority of Sweden. It consists of the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers appointed by the Prime Minister. The Government is responsible for their actions to the Riksdag, which is the legislative assembly...
.
Östersund is also the seat of Jämtland County Council (Jämtlands läns landsting, located on Frösön
Frösön
Frösön is a small island in the lake Storsjön located west of the city Östersund in Jämtland. For ages this island was the regional centre of Jämtland....
). The County Council is the elected assembly of Jämtland County. The County Council's responsibilities lie primarily within the public health care
Publicly-funded health care
Publicly funded health care is a form of health care financing designed to meet the cost of all or most health care needs from a publicly managed fund. Usually this is under some form of democratic accountability, the right of access to which are set down in rules applying to the whole population...
system and transportation between the municipalities.
Östersund is the seat of Östersund Municipality
Östersund Municipality
Östersund Municipality is a municipality in Jämtland County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Östersund, which is also the county seat of Jämtland County....
(Östersunds kommun). The legislative body of the municipality is the 67-member municipal assembly (kommunfullmäktige), elected by proportional representation for a four-year term. The assembly appoints the municipality's main governing body, the 15-member executive committee (kommunstyrelsen). The executive committee is headed by the Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
(kommunstyrelsens ordförande). Östersund has historically been dominated by the conservatives
Moderate Party
The Moderate Party is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1904 as the General Electoral League by a group of conservatives in the Swedish parliament...
, the freeminded
Liberalism and centrism in Sweden
This article gives an overview of liberalism and centrism in Sweden. It is limited to liberal and centrist parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme...
(later on Liberal People's Party
Liberal People's Party (Sweden)
The Liberal People's Party is a political party in Sweden. The party advocates social liberalism and is part of the governing centre-right coalition The Alliance, which achieved a majority in the general election of 17 September 2006...
) and the social democrats
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, , contesting elections as 'the Workers' Party – the Social Democrats' , or sometimes referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' and most commonly as Sossarna ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889...
. Though contrary to Sweden on a national level Östersund's centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
parties long remained in majority. The situation changed first in 1952 when the social democrats were included and they received an own majority in 1962. In 1966 the agrian and rural
Nordic Agrarian parties
The Nordic agrarian parties, or Nordic Centre parties, are agrarian political parties that belong to a political tradition peculiar to the Nordic countries...
Centre Party
Centre Party (Sweden)
The Centre Party is a centrist political party in Sweden. The party maintains close ties to rural Sweden and describes itself as "a green social liberal party". The ideology is sometimes called agrarian, but in a European context, the Centre Party can perhaps best be characterized as social...
entered the scene, along with the minor Christian Democrat
Christian Democrats (Sweden)
The Christian Democrats ) is a political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1964 but did not enter parliament until 1985 in an electoral cooperation with the Centre Party and on the Christian Democrats' own accord in 1991. The leader since April 3, 2004 is Göran Hägglund. He succeeded Alf...
and Communist
Left Party (Sweden)
The Left Party is a socialist and feminist political party in Sweden, from 1967 to 1990 known as the Left Party – The Communists .On welfare issues, the party opposes privatizations...
Parties. A new centre-right government was appointed and the Centre Party became the largest party in that coalition 1970. However since the 1980s the Social Democratic Party has been in power (excluding a term in the 1990s) supported by the communists (now simply Left Party) and occasionally the Green Party
Green Party (Sweden)
-External links:**...
(entered in 1982).
Jens Nilsson from the Social Democratic Party is the mayor of Östersund and has been so since 1997.
Transportation
The airport is situated 11 kilometres outside the city core, on Frösön. Åre Östersund Airport (previously named Östersunds flygplats) is an international airportInternational airport
An international airport is any airport that can accommodate flights from other countries and are typically equipped with customs and immigration facilities to handle these flights to and from other countries...
and the ninth biggest in Sweden with roughly 390 000 passengers 2005. The airport is one of few Swedish airport with incoming foreign charter traffic and the only one with considerable economic growth in that sector.
The European route E14
European route E14
European route E 14 is a road part of the International E-road network. It begins in Trondheim, Norway and ends in Sundsvall, Sweden. The road is in length....
runs through Östersund from Trondheim to Sundsvall
Sundsvall
-External links:* - Official site from Nordisk Familjebok - Sundsvalls tourist information bureau. - The alternative guide to Sundsvall. - Blog with photos from Sundsvall....
and briefly merges with the European route E45
European route E45
The European route E 45 goes between Sweden and Italy, through Denmark, Germany and Austria. With a length of about , it is the longest north-south European route...
(referred to as Inlandsvägen
Inlandsvägen
Inlandsvägen is a touristical road passing through the center of Sweden from Gothenburg in the south up to Lapland in the north. Inlandsvägen is simultaneously the Swedish part of the European Route 45...
locally) coming from the north. The two roads are later split in Brunflo
Brunflo
Brunflo is a locality situated in Östersund Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,916 inhabitants in 2005. It is situated some 15 km south-east of Östersund....
where E14 continues heading east and E45 turns south again.
Östersund has similar railway communications. Mittnabotåget
Mittnabotåget
Mittnabotåget is a regional train service connecting Trondheim in Norway with Sundsvall in Sweden. It includes trains operated by Veolia Transport on the Mittlinjen between Sundsvall and Östersund in Sweden, and Norges Statsbaner’s cross-border Nabotåget services from Östersund on to Trondheim in...
operates both the Norwegian Meråkerbanen
Meråkerbanen
The Meråker Line is a railway line which runs from Hell, outside Stjørdal, through the municipalities of Stjørdal and Meråker in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway, to the village of Storlien in Sweden. On the Swedish side, it continues as the Central Line to the city of Sundsvall...
from Trondheim to Storlien
Storlien
Storlien is a village and ski resort in the Åre municipality, in Jämtland, Sweden, a kilometre from the Swedish-Norwegian border.The village has only 78 permanent inhabitants. The work opportunities are based on tourism and shopping. Most tourists are Norwegians or Swedes. Shopping tourists arrive...
and the Swedish Mittbanan
Mittbanan
The Central Line is a long railway line between Sundsvall and Storlien in Sweden. It continues as the long Meråker Line through Norway to Hell Station and onwards to Trondheim. The railway shares line with Inland Line between Brunflo and Östersund while the line between Ånge and Bräcke is double...
from Storlien to Sundsvall. Inlandsbanan
Inlandsbanan
-External links:* - Official site* - Information for railpass travellers...
runs in the same direction as Inlandsvägen. Östersund is connected to Stockholm, Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
and Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
through long distance X2000
X2000
X2000 is a 1998 short film directed by François Ozon.-Plot:A naked man wakes up in a luxury loft, which is a residential building in an unidentified European city, after a particularly wild New Year's Eve party of the year 2000. He finds a naked woman in his bed, and obviously he does not...
(high speed trains), InterCity
InterCity
InterCity is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe...
and night train. Local company Stadsbussarna i Östersund (literally: the City Buses in Östersund) has nine routes in the city.
As Östersund is located at shores of Storsjön, the great lake, it also has a harbour. There is also a harbour on the Frösö side of the strait. Several bridges span across Storsjön connecting Östersund with communities nearby, Frösöbron across Östersundet, Vallsundsbron from Frösön across Vallsundet to Annersia "the other side" and Rödöbron from Frösön to Rödön in Krokom Municipality.
Trade and commerce
Small business
A small business is a business that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales. Small businesses are normally privately owned corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships...
es. The city is the centre of trade and commerce in Jämtland County and has well over 300 different shops. The retail trade
Retailing
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
's turnover
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
is 30 per cent higher than it ought to be, given the number of inhabitants the city has. Trade in the central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
(Staden — the City) is mostly concentrated to the shopping and pedestrian street Prästgatan where large local shopping malls such as Kärnan and Mittpunkten along with department stores such as Åhléns
Åhléns
Åhléns is a Swedish chain of department stores, located in almost every city in the country, and with several stores in the major cities, including 18 stores in Stockholm alone . Åhléns also has business operations in Norway. It is one of Sweden’s leading retailers in a number of fields...
are located. Large clothing
Clothing
Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...
companies such as H&M
H&M
H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB is a Swedish retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing offerings for women, men, teenagers and children....
, Lindex
Lindex
Lindex is a Swedish fashion chain, known for its fast fashion clothing offerings for women, teenagers and children. Lindex has around 400 stores in Scandinavia including Iceland, the Baltic States, Russia, central Europe, the Middle East as of November 2011...
and smaller like WESC
WESC
WeSC , or We as it is casually known, is a Swedish clothing brand, based mainly on skateboarding influences and style. Founded in 1999, it has quickly become one of Sweden's most popular brands, within Sweden as well as internationally...
etc., approximately 50 restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s, shoe stores, sporting goods retailers like Stadium and Intersport
Intersport
The Intersport Group is an international sporting goods retailer. IIC-Intersport International Corporation is its purchasing division.The headquarters are located in the capital of Switzerland, Bern....
, several supermarkets (Östersund has rather few convenience store
Convenience store
A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
s) and much more. Storgatan, the street that runs parallel with Prästgatan is also lined with shops, restaurants and coffeehouses. Unlike Prästgatan this street is not a pedestrian street. Östersund is the city in Sweden with the most square metres of window display per capita. The most prominent figure in Östersund's business life throughout the 20th century was the car salesman (started out selling horses) Sven O. Persson, founder of Persson Invest, Byggelit and Bilbolaget. Nowadays the most distinguishing businessman is Maths O. Sundqvist, owner of several real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
s in Östersund, including the entire urban district Stadsdel Norr through his real estate company Fabös (together with Peab).
Östersund has had a long history as a marketplace
Marketplace
A marketplace is the space, actual, virtual or metaphorical, in which a market operates. The term is also used in a trademark law context to denote the actual consumer environment, ie. the 'real world' in which products and services are provided and consumed.-Marketplaces and street markets:A...
with the already mentioned ancient Gregorie market, tracing its lineage back to the 11th century, in early March. However banned in 1914, it continued to be held a couple of years. In 1950, the market was reborn shortly and was completely resurrected in 1986, when the city celebrated its 200th anniversary, and has been held yearly since then. In 1948, when the markets were non-existent visions to restore Östersund's market traditions, in a modern version, were brought up. The result was the trade fair
Trade fair
A trade fair is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities...
Expo Norr, initiated 1950 in order to strengthen Östersund as the leading the centre of trade in the northern parts of Sweden. The trade fair is an annual event just like Gregorie market, though Expo Norr is held during the summer and not during the winter. Expo Norr is usually attended by 30 000 individuals every year.
Just like many other County capitals in Sweden the County Council and the Municipality are among the largest employers.
Besides trading and public services
Public services
Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly or by financing private provision of services. The term is associated with a social consensus that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income...
Östersund has some larger companies such as Solectron
Solectron
Solectron Corporation was a global electronics manufacturing company for original equipment manufacturers . It pioneered the electronics manufacturing services industry in 1977 and was a leader in the field...
, Cybercom, Svenska Dagbladet
Svenska Dagbladet
Svenska Dagbladet is a daily newspaper in Sweden. The first issue appeared on 18 December 1884. Svenska Dagbladet is published in Stockholm and provides coverage of national and international news as well as local coverage of the Greater Stockholm region...
's customer service
Customer service
Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.According to Turban et al. , “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer...
, Volex, Husqvarna AB
Husqvarna AB
The Husqvarna Group is the world's largest producer of outdoor power products including chainsaws, trimmers, lawn mowers and garden tractors. The Group is also the European leader in consumer watering products and one of the world leaders in cutting equipment and diamond tools for the construction...
, Swedbank
Swedbank
Swedbank AB is a leading Nordic-Baltic banking group with 9.5 million retail customers and 534,000 corporate customers in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In Sweden, the group has 377 branches. In the Baltic countries, it has another 224 branches...
's telephone bank and Telia
Telia
Telia may refer to:*Telia - part of the reproductive cycle of Rusts*Telia Digital-tv - a Swedish TV platform*Telia, Nepal - a village in Nepal*TeliaSonera - a Swedish/Finnish telecom operator*Telia Challenge Waxholm - Golf tournament...
. Companies such as the dairy cooperation Milko
Milko
Milko may refer to:*Milko , Sweden's largest native producer of dairy products*A pejorative term for milkman *Milkó is a Hungarian name for Milcov, Romania-People:...
and Inlandsbanan AB have located their corporate headquarters
Corporate headquarters
Corporate headquarters is a term used to describe the entity at the top of a corporation to take full responsibility for the overall success of the corporation, ensures Corporate Governance...
in the city.
A national survey done by the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise
Confederation of Swedish Enterprise
The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise is a major interest organisation for business and industry in Sweden. It has 48 member associations representing close to 55.000 member companies with more than 1.5 million employees....
show that out of every company in Östersund Municipality 52 per cent are "very positive towards globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
", thus ranking Östersund at number eight in Sweden as the most globalization friendly Municipality.
Culture
The city has many cafés, barBar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
s, pubs and nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
s. The city has a long café tradition, as they were important early on for the rich association life that came with the popular movements. It was natural for visitors from the countryside, the military and tourists to spend time with each other and the towners at a café. At one of the city's cafés the sandwich cake
Smörgåstårta
Smörgåstårta is a Scandinavian cuisine dish that is popular in Finland, Sweden and Estonia. This salty cake is compositionally similar to a sandwich, but it has such a large amount of filling that it more resembles a layered cream cake with garnished top.The smörgåstårta is normally made up of...
is said to have been invented.
Cultural arenas
Jamtli
Jamtli is the name of the regional museum of Jämtland and Härjedalen in Östersund, Sweden. It consists of an open air museum with historical buildings, and an indoor museum with both permanent and temporary exhibitions. “Jamtli” literally means “hillside of Jämtland” in the local dialect...
. The museum has both an enclosed exhibition area and an outdoor area which contains a number of historical buildings from all over the county, depicting the old lives of peasants, the early city of Östersund and the Scandinavian inland herding. The museum exhibition hosts an interesting set of tapestries, the Överhogdal tapestries
Överhogdal tapestries
The Överhogdal tapestries are a group of extraordinary well preserved textiles dating from the Viking Age that were discovered in Överhogdal, Sweden.-Discovery and dating:...
, showing a rich imagery of both Norse and Christian origin from the Viking Age
Viking Age
Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...
. The mythical Storsjöodjuret
Storsjöodjuret
Storsjöodjuret is a lake monster reported to live in the lake Storsjön in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. The lake monster was first reported in 1635 and is the only one of its kind in Sweden...
(Great Lake Monster) has an exhibit of its own. Another remnant from the Viking age is Frösöstenen, one of the world's most northerly rune stones located on Frösön, the island of Freyr
Freyr
Freyr is one of the most important gods of Norse paganism. Freyr was highly associated with farming, weather and, as a phallic fertility god, Freyr "bestows peace and pleasure on mortals"...
.
Lake Storsjön has been trafficked for a long time and the steamships S/S Thomée and S/S Östersund are still in operation every summer. Contrary to most boats, they are seen as males and not females. S/S Thomée is however the only one that sets sail from Östersund's harbour. S/S Östersund set sail from Arvesund, located at Storsjön's western shore but makes visits to Jamtli's steamboat jetty
Jetty
A jetty is any of a variety of structures used in river, dock, and maritime works that are generally carried out in pairs from river banks, or in continuation of river channels at their outlets into deep water; or out into docks, and outside their entrances; or for forming basins along the...
.
Frösö Zoo is one of Sweden's largest zoological gardens with exotic animals. It has roughly 700 different animals like Siberian tigers, lions, polar wolves, monkeys etc. Frözö Zoo also has a tropic house, a biological museum and an amusement park
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...
. Outside of Östersund in the village Orrviken
Orrviken
Orrviken is a locality situated in Östersund Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 239 inhabitants in 2005....
there's a Moose Zoo, called Moose Garden allowing close encounters with tame moose.
Färgfabriken ('the colour factory') is a culture experimental centre based in Stockholm, that perceive itself as a laboratory of contemporary art. A branch named Färgfabriken Norr has as of late been established in Östersund and has hosted an "at large" exhibition of Östersund and a The New World Bank-conference with Noreena Hertz
Noreena Hertz
Professor Noreena Hertz is an English economist, author and campaigner.In her 2002 book The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and The Death of Democracy, Hertz warned that unregulated markets, corporate greed, and over-powerful financial institutions would have serious global consequences that...
, Kjell A. Nordström
Kjell A. Nordström
Kjell Anders Nordström is a Swedish economist, writer and public speaker.Kjell A. Nordström was born in Skärholmen, a suburban district in southern Stockholm, but grew up on a small island in the Finnish Åland archipelago. His parents returned to Sweden in the 1960s...
and Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
.
Gaaltije, the centre for South Sami culture, opened in 1999 and is a living source of knowledge for South Sami culture, history and business.
Gamla Tingshuset, Holds a small cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
, a café, a small venue and practice halls. It is usually a meeting place for the town youngs.
Events
- The city festival StorsjöyranStorsjöyranStorsjöyran, or just Yran is an annual Swedish musical event going back to the early sixties.-Festival history:...
(referred to as simply Yran, literally meaning: The Great LakeStorsjönStorsjön is the fifth largest lake in Sweden, with an area of 464 km² and a greatest depth of 74 m. It is located in the province of Jämtland in modern Jämtland County. From Storsjön runs the river Indalsälven and the lake contains the major island Frösön...
Giddy FestivalFestivalA festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
), the oldest city festival in ScandinaviaScandinaviaScandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
and with 55 000 visitors every year the largest in Sweden. Storsjöyran is held in the middle of Östersund the last weekend of July. Although the event starts the weekend before with the opening of "Krogstråket" when regional bars and restaurants gather near the lake. - Jamtli Christmas Market is well attended market taking place the second weekend of AdventAdventAdvent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...
. - Expo Norr, Sweden's oldest merchandise trade fairFairA fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...
held in June with roughly 400 exhibitors. - The Winter Park
- The Winter Festival is the name for all the events that took place during the Biathlon World Championships 2008. It included a festival of light, live music, new school skiing at the town square, a film and photo festival, a festival arena and more. It will be hosted again 2010.
Media
The largest daily newspaper in Östersund is Östersunds-Posten (ÖP) with a circulation of 30 000 and the second largest is Länstidningen Östersund (LT) with a circulation of 15 000 (2006 for both). Like most Swedish newspaper they each have a political editorial page, views of the Centre PartyCentre Party (Sweden)
The Centre Party is a centrist political party in Sweden. The party maintains close ties to rural Sweden and describes itself as "a green social liberal party". The ideology is sometimes called agrarian, but in a European context, the Centre Party can perhaps best be characterized as social...
are expressed in ÖP and views of the Swedish Social Democratic Party
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, , contesting elections as 'the Workers' Party – the Social Democrats' , or sometimes referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' and most commonly as Sossarna ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889...
are expressed in LT. Länstidningen is unique in Sweden, as it is the only Swedish newspaper with press support
Press support
Press support is a Norwegian state subsidy available for newspapers. The subsidy is twofold; the first part is a direct subsidy of the second- largest, by circulation, newspapers in each city...
that has ever made itself non-dependent
on state subsidy. Much of the paper's success is ascribed to the then editor-in-chief awarded with the great journalism award
Stora Journalistpriset
Stora Journalistpriset is an annual Swedish award, founded in 1966 by Bonnier AB, given to "promote good professional achievements in the field of journalism".The prize money is SEK 100,000 and is awarded in four categories:...
. Since 2006, the newspaper has been dependent on state subsidy. Nowadays, the media group Mittmedia owns both newspapers.
Two free daily newspaper
Free daily newspaper
Free daily newspapers are distributed free of charge, either in central places in cities and towns, or with other newspapers. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising.-In the U.S.:...
s exist in the city, 100 procent Östersund and Lokaltidningen Storsjön.
Local radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
s include Radio Jämtland (a part of Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio AB – Swedish Radio Ltd – is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with...
), One FM
One FM
one FM is a Chinese language radio station in Malaysia. Initially starting with broadcasts in the Klang Valley, it is now broadcast in the cities of Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu, Kuantan and Kuching and statewide in Johor, Kedah, Melaka and Penang...
and Modern Times Group
Modern Times Group
Modern Times Group is a Swedish media company. MTG was formed out of the media holdings of investment company Kinnevik, which in 1997 was distributed to the company stockholders. Among the assets were Viasat and Metro International...
's Rix FM.
Films Shot In Ostersund
The following feature films have been shot in Ostersund:- Bitter FlowersBitter FlowersBitter Flowers is 2007 Norwegian crime thriller directed by Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen. It is the first in a series of six films about the private detective Varg Veum, based on the books by Gunnar Staalesen. The film stars Trond Espen Seim as Veum.- Plot :A man vanishes without a trace...
- Dunderklumpen
- MarianneMarianne (2011 film)Marianne is a 2011 Swedish horror film, directed by Filip Tegstedt, that premiered at the 2011 Fantasia International Film Festival on 2 August 2011....
Education
Östersund recently became a university city and the Mid Sweden UniversityMid Sweden University
Mid Sweden University is a Swedish state university located in the region around the geographical center of Sweden, with three campuses in the cities of Östersund, Sundsvall and Härnösand.-History:...
has its largest campus site in Östersund with well over 7 000 students. The Mid Sweden University was a university college (högskola
Högskola
A university college denotes an independent institution in Sweden and Norway that provides tertiary education and in limited cases also quaternary education...
) named Mitthögskolan until it was granted university status in 2005, making it the youngest university in Sweden. Mitthögskolan was the result of the merger between the University College of Sundsvall/Härnösand
Härnösand
Härnösand is a locality and the seat of Härnösand Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 18,003 inhabitants in 2005. It is called "the gate to the High Coast" because of the world heritage landscape rises just some miles north of Härnösand...
(Högskolan i Sundsvall/Härnösand) and the University College of Östersund (Högskolan i Östersund)
Östersund is a centre for the research in Social Sciences (Business Administration, Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, Sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
and Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
) and Social Work, whilst the research in Health Sciences is split between Östersund and Sundsvall.
The city has several secondary schools (gymnasieskolor
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
) whereas Palmcrantzskolan (PC) and Wargentinsskolan (Wargen) are the two largest. Among the smaller are Primrose, John Bauer, VTC-gymnasiet and Östersund's gymnasieskola.
Sports
Östersund is marketed as the Winter City and has a long history of winter sports. It is internationally perhaps most known as one of the regular Biathlon World CupBiathlon World Cup
The Biathlon World Cup has been held since the winter seasons of 1977/78 and 1982/83, for men and women, respectively ....
hosts and was also hosting both the 1970 and 2008
Biathlon World Championships 2008
The 42nd Biathlon World Championships were held in Östersund in Jämtland in central Sweden from February 8 to February 17, 2008. It was the second time Östersund was hosting the Biathlon World Championships, the first being in 1970...
Biathlon World Championships.
The cross-country ski stadium is located two kilometres from the city centre and is one of the most well-equipped and spectator friendly ski stadiums in Sweden. The stadium is also internationally renowned due to the topography of its ski tracks, the compact track-system and the fact that Östersund is usually quite a reliable locality for snow during the winter months. A number of biathlon
Biathlon
Biathlon is a term used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines. However, biathlon usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting...
world cup races have been held at the stadium as well as several national championships in cross-country skiing.
Nationellt Vintersportcentrum (NVC, Swedish Winter Sports Research Centre) is a research and training project run by the sports movement, the university, the municipality and the county council. The Swedish Olympic Committee
Swedish Olympic Committee
The Swedish Olympic Committee is the Swedish National Olympic Committee . The Swedish Olympic Committee organize the Swedish participation in the Olympics, choose the participants and run the "Elitprogrammet".The committee has 35 Olympic national federations members and 12 by the IOC national...
(SOC) use its lab for various tests.
Östersund, in association with the neighboring municipality of Åre
Åre
Åre is a locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 1,260 inhabitants in 2005. It is however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpen. 25% of the municipal industry is based on tourism, most notably the downhill...
, had plans to be the candidate of Sweden for the organization of the XXIInd Olympic Winter Games, the 2014 Winter Olympics
2014 Winter Olympics
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially the XXII Olympic Winter Games, or the 22nd Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event scheduled to be celebrated from 7 to 23 February 2014, in Sochi, Russia with some events held in the resort town of Krasnaya Polyana. Both the Olympic and...
, but the candidacy proposal was rejected by the government. It would have been the fourth attempt of this city (after 1994
1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event. Lillehammer was awarded the games in 1988, after having beat...
where Östersund lost the bid
Bids for Olympic Games
National Olympic Committees select from within their national territory cities to put forward bids to host an Olympic Games. The staging of the Paralympic Games is automatically included in the bid...
with the score 45-39 to Lillehammer
Lillehammer
is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway, globally known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was...
in the final round, 1998
1998 Winter Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7 to 22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Seventy-two nations and 2,176 participans contested in seven sports and 72 events at 15 venues. The games saw the introduction of Women's ice...
and 2002
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...
).
Östersund has a basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team in Sweden's highest division (Ligan
Ligan (basketball)
Swedish Basketball League or so Called Ligan is the premier league for basketball in Sweden. The league was originally established in 1992 as Basketligan and was known as that prior to the season of 2006/2007, but when the Swedish company Obol Investment signed an agreement with the Swedish...
), Jämtland Basket
Jämtland Basket
Jämtland Basket is a basket ball club from Östersund, Sweden-Depth chart:...
.
Östersund's Fallskärmsklubb is the oldest of Sweden's drop zones and was formed in 1958. The very first civilian parachute jump was done actually on the ice of Storsjön in February 1956. The jumpers were officers from the Swedish Parachute rangers regiment that also wanted to jump on their spare time. Östersund's Fallskärmsklubb is today localized to Optand's airfields, approximately 13 km south from Östersund where one carries out education of students and sky diving for the experienced jumpers all year around with the exception from late autumn until early winter.
Other sports clubs include:
- IFK ÖstersundIFK ÖstersundIFK Östersund is a Swedish football club located in Östersund in Jämtland.-Background:Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Östersund were founded on 7 March 1906 at the Café Temperance in Östersund...
- Ope IFOpe IFOpe IF is a Swedish football club located in Ope near Östersund in Jämtland.-Background:Ope Idrottsförening is a sports club near Östersund that was founded on 30 January 1922...
- Östersunds FKÖstersunds FKÖstersunds FK is a soccer club located in Östersund, Sweden. The club, formed 31 October 1996, is currently playing in the third highest Swedish league, Norrettan .-Background:...
- Fältjägarnas IFFältjägarnas IFFältjägarnas IF is a Swedish football club located in Östersund. -Background:Fältjägarnas IF currently plays in Division 4 Jämtland/Härjedalen which is the sixth tier of Swedish football. They play their home matches at the Jägarvallen in Östersund....
Notable residents
- Ann-MargretAnn-MargretAnn-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Cincinnati Kid, Carnal Knowledge, and Tommy...
, actress, who has a star in front of the city's movie theater - Alexander EdlerAlexander EdlerAlexander Edler is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League . He was drafted out of Sweden's third-tier ice hockey league by the Canucks 91st overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and played junior hockey with Modo of the J20 SuperElit and...
, professional ice hockey defenseman for the Vancouver CanucksVancouver CanucksThe Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, :British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena, formerly known as General Motors Place,... - Martha HedmanMartha HedmanMartha Hedman was a Swedish-American stage actress popular on the Broadway stage.-Biography:She was born to Johan Hedman and Ingrid Kempe in Östersund, in Jämtland County, Sweden. She studied for the stage under the tutelage of Siri von Essen the wife of playwright and novelist, August Strindberg...
(1883–1974), Swedish-American stage actress - Annika NorlinAnnika NorlinAnnika Norlin , of Östersund, Sweden, is a Swedish pop artist who makes music under the names Hello Saferide and Säkert! .-Albums:*2005 - Introducing...Hello Saferide...
, singer/songwriter for Hello SaferideHello SaferideHello Saferide is a Swedish twee pop band fronted by songwriter Annika Norlin. According to Norlin's MySpace, the stage name "Hello Saferide" was "inspired by an intelligent bus driver in a drug-addicted small town, don't ask." The Swedish-language version of the band's biography identifies the...
and Säkert!
Twin towns — Sister cities
Östersund is twinned with: TrondheimTrondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
(since 1946)