Sundsvall, Sweden

Earmark a little of your valuable time for a visit to Sundsvall and you´ll be richer for it. Richer in experience, new impressions and interesting encounters. You might even strike up a friendship with Lady Luck.

Sundsvall is a magnificent neo-Renaissance town with richly ornamented buildings. But it wasn\\\'t always so. The Sundsvall of the foresters and timber barons naturally grew up as a town of wood. And wood is flammable. When the town was devastated by fire for the third time in 1888, rendering 9,000 people homeless, residents decided enough was enough-the town would be rebuilt in stone. The best way to experience the beautiful stone town is a guided tour, either at the street or roof level. The stone town also has over 200 stores to provide your shopping fix. You can wander around for hours or just sit at one of the town\\\'s many cafés or restaurants.

Today Sundsvall is a city offering the choices often reserved for truly big cities. Sometimes more, we dare to claim, though in a smaller and more intimate format. The surrounding magnificent countryside also makes an important contribution to a stimulating and varied stay as well as providing time and space for reflection.

Regardless of whether you are in Sundsvall for business or pleasure you are guaranteed to find your own personal paradise

The city of Sundsvall is a traditional commercial centre with roots that stretch back to Viking times. Sundsvall´s location on the coast and its close proximity to Sweden´s neighbours have ensured that the city has always been an important commercial crossroads.

The sawmill industry transformed Sundsvall into Sweden´s first major industrial centre at the beginning of the nineteenth century. While the mills have remained important to this day, more recently they have been joined by other industries which have added fascinating new dimensions to the city´s commercial character.

Sundsvall is at the heart of an expansive and dynamic region, where a wide range of projects is being carried in all sorts of business areas. As for culture, tertiary education, research an development, leisure and the environment (to mention but a few), Sundsvall rivals any of Sweden´s other major cities.

Located at the heart of Sweden and at the very heart of Scandinavia, Sundsvall is as much a centre of trade today as it has always been. The city is best known for its timber industry. This flourished in the mid 1800s, when Sundsvall became the focus for Sweden´s timber business and people flocked from all corners of the country to work on the Swedish \\\"Gold Coast\\\", the first major industrial centre in Sweden.

While Sundsvalls Museum, which boasts the countys most important art collection, is located in Kulturmagasinet and while it is operated by the municipality it also has the county-wide responsibility for art and industrial history. The permanent exhibits include the history of Sundsvall, the sawmill era, the natural history of Medelpad and the finds from a local chieftains burial mound dating back to about 500 AD.

The shifting special exhibitions of contemporary art and local history as well as exhibits to stimulate debate on contemporary social issues means that the museum is in a state of constant transformation, a state which is complemented by an extensive programme of, for example, lectures and tours.

Two specially-educated museologists conduct activities and give lectures for school classes.

Throughout the municipality there are a host of local heritage museums. The most popular is the self-sufficient homestead at Gudmundstjärn, deep in the forest, which is visited by over 50,000 people each summer. The heritage museum on Norraberget, in Sundsvall proper, is dominated by exhibits depicting the history of the districts urban trades and rural culture. It is also the home of a mythical creature, known as the Skvadern, a cross between a hare and a great wood grouse.

There are several old harbour stores in the immediate vicinity of Kulturmagasinet and the municipality is investigating the feasibility of establishing a Swedish photographic museum in collaboration with other interested parties. The aim is to combine a museum of photographic technique and photography with a facility housing both modern imaging technology and describing its development. The plans under consideration also include an image bank for the restoration, preservation and storage of old photos.

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