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Uddevalla

Coordinates: 58°20′57″N 11°56′17″E / 58.34917°N 11.93806°E / 58.34917; 11.93806
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Uddevalla
Overlooking the centre of Uddevalla
Overlooking the centre of Uddevalla
Uddevalla is located in Västra Götaland
Uddevalla
Uddevalla
Uddevalla is located in Sweden
Uddevalla
Uddevalla
Coordinates: 58°20′57″N 11°56′17″E / 58.34917°N 11.93806°E / 58.34917; 11.93806
CountrySweden
ProvinceBohuslän
CountyVästra Götaland County
MunicipalityUddevalla Municipality
Area
[1]
 • Total
16.92 km2 (6.53 sq mi)
Population
 (31 December 2015)[1]
 • Total
34 781
 • Density1,845/km2 (4,780/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)

Uddevalla is a town and the seat of Uddevalla Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. In 2015, it had a population of 34,781.[1]

It is located at a bay of the south-eastern part of Skagerrak. The beaches of Uddevalla are filled with seashells and Uddevalla has one of the largest shell-banks in the world.[2]

Uddevalla has a port and it once had a large shipyard, the Uddevallavarvet ("Uddevalla wharf"), which was the largest employer in Bohuslän during the 1960s. The 1970s recession, that affected the Swedish shipyard industry severely, led to the closing of the wharf in 1985.

History

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Uddevalla around 1700, from the Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna

Uddevalla originally belonged to Norway and received its town privileges in 1498. It’s probable that the town was founded some time before that, but we have no proof about that. The Norwegians originally named the city “Oddevald”, which later became “Oddevold”. [3]

Due to the town’s former proximity to Denmark and Sweden, as well as its strategic position, there were many wars in and around Oddevold. Oddevold has changed nationalities a total of seven times throughout its history. In 1658, Oddevold (and the rest of Bohuslän) was handed to Sweden as part of the Treaty of Roskilde. Norway invaded the city a year later before it was handed back as part of the Treaty of Copenhagen 1660. That was the last time Oddevold changed nationality and it was soon thereafter renamed to Uddevalla. The old name remains today in the form of IK Oddevold, the local football team.[3][4]

City fires

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Uddevalla has been burned to the ground a total of six times. The first five times were attempts to claim the city by the different Scandinavian nations. After the fifth fire in 1690, the town was rebuilt and became larger than it ever was. Uddevalla was the 5th largest city in Sweden when the sixth great fire started in 1806. The small fire which started in a barn spread quickly and burnt down the entire city. Only a few houses located in the city outskirts remained intact, and the city had to be rebuilt. It is because of this fire that central Uddevalla has a grid-like structure.[3][5][6]

Industries

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When the industrial revolution reached Sweden, Uddevalla had fully recovered from the fire. Uddevalla's first major industry was a cotton mill named Kampenhof AB. It was built in 1857 and had 10 000 machines driven by a steam engine. A few years later in 1875, Adolf P. Zachau built a match factory called Uddevalla Tändsticksfabrik. The match factory, along with their trademark “Svalan” (translated: “The Swallow”), eventually became successful all over the world. Despite this, it was closed down in 1938. Kampenhof AB remained until 1954, when it too was closed down. The cotton mill however, stood untouched until 1982 when it was demolished. In its place today is Kampenhof Resecentrum, the main bus station of Uddevalla.[7][8]

Uddevallavarvet was at its time the biggest employer in all of Bohuslän with approximately 4 000 workers at its peak. It was founded in 1946 by Gustav B. Thordén, who bought two kaiser shipyards, one from Portland, Maine and one from Providence, Rhode Island, and transported them across the Atlantic. When Uddevallavarvet was closed down in 1986 they had built 221 supertankers. Their biggest ship was the T/T Nanny which, with a length of 364 meters and a width of 79 meters, is the biggest ship ever built in Sweden. [9][10]

Education

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All the high schools in Uddevalla are administered as one school, the Uddevalla Gymnasieskola ("Uddevalla High School"), which is now the largest high school in Sweden.[citation needed] The school has 4,000 students attending the following branches of the high school:

There are also many primary schools in Uddevalla, some of them are:

  • Äsperödskolan
  • Västerskolan
  • Fridaskolan
  • Ramnerödsskolan
  • Norgårdenskolan
  • Norrskolan
  • Sommarhemsskolan

Sports

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Arenas

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Agnebergshallen is an indoor sports arena for various sports including handball.

The home ground for the IK Oddevold is the outdoor arena Rimnersvallen. A large indoor arena, the Rimnershallen, is next to the Rimnersvallen. It is used for handball and floorball as well as other sports.

Sports clubs

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The following sports clubs are located in Uddevalla:

Football

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Hockey

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Handball

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Floorball

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Futsal

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Sites of interest

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Twin towns – sister cities

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See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Sweden

Uddevalla is twinned with:[15]

Notable people

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km2 2005 och 2010" (in Swedish). Uddevalla munipalicy. 14 December 2011. Archived from the original on 19 March 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Skalbankarna och Skalbanksmuseet". www.vastsverige.com (in Swedish). Retrieved 2025-04-15.
  3. ^ a b c "Uddevalla | WestBiz" (in Swedish). 2016-12-19. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  4. ^ "Bohuslän blir svenskt 1658". Bohuslans Museum (in Swedish). Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  5. ^ "Branden i Uddevalla 1806". Bohuslans Museum (in Swedish). Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  6. ^ "Uddevalla Släktforskare – Uddevalla 1807 – Föreningen Uddevalla Släktforskare bildades 1983 och är en ideell förening som är öppen för alla som är intresserade av släkt- och hembygdsforskning" (in Swedish). Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  7. ^ "UDDEVALLA TÄNDSTICKSFABRIK". thoresmatches.se. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  8. ^ "Kampenhofs bomullsspinneri och väveri". digitaltmuseum.se. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  9. ^ "Varvet och Vi". digitaltmuseum.se. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  10. ^ Kolar, Linn (2025-03-14). ""Jätteladyn" – en svensk industriell triumf". Dagens PS (in Swedish). Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  11. ^ Destinationer, Svenska (2023-07-04). "Uddevallabron - En 1712 meter lång motorvägsbro över Byfjorden". Svenska Destinationer (in Swedish). Retrieved 2025-04-15.
  12. ^ "Kringla - Uddevalla kyrkas klocktorn". Kringla (in Swedish). Retrieved 2025-04-15.
  13. ^ "Tureborgen - Udda Utflykter" (in Swedish). 2024-01-15. Retrieved 2025-04-15.
  14. ^ "Badorten Gustafsberg". Bohuslans Museum (in Swedish). Retrieved 2025-04-15.
  15. ^ "Vänorter" (in Swedish). Uddevalla kommun. Archived from the original on 2020-06-23. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
Bibliography
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Uddevalla.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Uddevalla.
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