Trelleborg | |
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.JPG) | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Trelleborg | |
| Coordinates:55°22′N13°10′E / 55.367°N 13.167°E /55.367; 13.167 | |
| Country | Sweden |
| Province | Scania |
| County | Skåne County |
| Municipality | Trelleborg Municipality |
| Area | |
• Total | 13.66 km2 (5.27 sq mi) |
| Population (31 December 2015)[1] | |
• Total | 43,359 |
| • Density | 2,071/km2 (5,360/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
Trelleborg (Swedish pronunciation:[trɛlɛˈbɔrj]) is a town inSkåne County,Sweden, with 43,359 inhabitants as of 31 December 2015.[1] It is the southernmost town in Sweden located some 10–15 kilometres (6.2–9.3 mi) west from thesouthernmost point of Sweden and theScandinavian Peninsula. It is one of the most important ferry towns inScandinavia as well as around theBaltic Sea, and the main town of theSöderslätt agricultural areas.
The first written record of the name is from 1257,Threlæburgh. The name is found in many places inScandinavia.[2]Borg meanscastle orstronghold andträl can meanthrall, but can also refer to the leaning poles on the outside of the medieval Viking stronghold. Remains of the original stronghold were excavated in 1988.
The name may also have originated from the stronghold that still remains in the center of the city. Strongholds like that have been found at several places around Scandinavia, mostly in the south of Sweden and Denmark, and are all called trelleborgs. The name is likely to have originated from that borg.[3][4]
The earliest written record of Trelleborg is from 1257. Three years later Trelleborg was presented as a wedding gift from theDanishroyal family to the SwedishPrince Valdemar. It was soon reconquered by the Danes, and continued to belong to Denmark until 1658, whenScania was lost to Sweden by theTreaty of Roskilde.
In medieval times, Trelleborg had an important part inherring fishing. At that time, this was conducted along the entire coastline of what is now Sweden, as the herringshoals were of such great numbers that fishermen were said to have been able to stand on the shore and land fish with nets. Trelleborg became an importantmerchant city as merchants fromGermany came to trade herring. In 1619 following a devastating fire, the Danish King decided that one merchant city on the coast was sufficient and revoked Trelleborg's status as a merchant city in favour ofMalmö.
Not until 1840 was Trelleborg allowed to become a merchant city, and not until 1867 did it regain its rights as a city of Sweden. Mostly this was thanks to the work of a few stubborn men, who had continuously been petitioning the SwedishRiksdag with these requests since 1658.
In 1962, in Trelleborg, a group ofMacedonian political emigrants founded theMovement for the Liberation and Unification of Macedonia.[5]
Thelocal government reform of 1971 made Trelleborg the seat ofTrelleborg Municipality, covering both rural and urban areas.[6]
Trelleborg is the southern endpoint for theEuropean route E6 that goes north toKirkenes, Norway. The E6 is a major artery for shipping goods into Sweden, connecting to theE22 in Malmö, and theE4 in Helsingborg.
The harbour has a very strategic position, in the very far south of theScandinavian Peninsula. The first ferry connection toGermany opened in 1897.[7] This was replaced with a train-ferry line toSaßnitz, in 1909 as a part of the lineMalmö -Berlin.[8] During theGDR era, a longer car ferry line opened toTravemünde ("modern harbour" ofLübeck), initially as line owned by theSwedish national railways (SJ), but known asTT-Line[7] from 1962. After the fall of theBerlin Wall in 1989, several new shipping lines and routes opened. Trelleborg municipality built a joint ferry terminal for all services, known as "Kontinentbron", or "the Continental Bridge". Both Germany andPoland can be reached by ferries from the terminal. As of 2018, the following shipping lines and routes are in operation:
Most of the ferry transports are lorries, and this makes Trelleborg's port the largest in Sweden in terms of goods by weight. In 2005, 11 million metric ton of goods passed through the port (along with almost 2 million passengers).[13]
Although Trelleborg does not have an official month to month weather station featured in SMHI's reports, its nearest weather stations inFalsterbo andMalmö both indicate anoceanic climate (Cfb) with warm and sometimes hot summers averaging in the low twenties Celsius most of the time and cool but generally not very cold winters with means at or just above freezing.
At the end of the 19th century, Trelleborg became an industrial town and the foundation of modern Trelleborg has largely been created by a few large companies; most notablyTrelleborg Industries and theferry company and business related to the seaport. Much of it has been the work of the influential businessman Johan Kock. Other important industries he established wereAkzo Nobel Inks, Today called Flint Group Sweden, manufacturing printing inks (established asGleitzman Industries in the 1890s), and DUX, who make beds. Later in the 1950s, Perstorp (Flooring) Industries was established in Trelleborg and it manufactures flooring boards and other plastic material. Trelleborg continues to be a working-class-oriented city and is politically a traditional stronghold for theSwedish Social Democratic Party. However, since the latest elections in 2006 the Social Democratic Party is in opposition in the municipality.
It is today often visited by people travelling from Sweden toGermany because of the ferries toRostock,Sassnitz, andLübeck -Travemünde in Germany. These ferries began sailing on 1 May 1897, with the Sassnitz line; the route to Travemünde was established in 1962, while the line to the formerEast German city Rostock was inaugurated after the fall of theBerlin Wall in 1989. The ferries carry both passengers on one-day journeys, cars with vacationing families, and heavy trucks on their way through Europe. In April 1917,Lenin arrived with the ferry from Sassnitz to Trelleborg on his way from exile back toRussia to lead theRevolution.
Today Trelleborg has the second largestseaport of Sweden, behindGothenburg. Every year it transports more than 10 million metric tonnes of cargo.
Overlooking the harbour ofSmygehuk near Trelleborg is a statue of a nude woman that was installed in 1930. ActressUma Thurman's grandmother, Birgit Holmquist, the mother ofNena von Schlebrügge, was the model for this statue.[14] The entrance road from west has a row ofpalm trees, illustrating the southern location of the city. They are moved indoors during winter as they can't tolerate freezing temperatures.
On 12 October 2017, several people were injured in shootings in the town, linked togang violence.[15][16]
Football clubs in Trelleborg includeTrelleborgs FF,IFK Trelleborg, andFC Trelleborg the basketball team is calledTrelleborg Basket.
The local scout corps is called Trelleborgs scoutkår.[17] Other places of interest include the bathhouse, local golf club, sporthalls, beaches and several parks.[18]
Trelleborg has two museums as of 2022,Trelleborgs Museum centered around the old viking castle rebuilt in the city, and another depicting different installations at different times.[20][21] Several different statues can be found around the city especially depicting the works ofAxel Ebbe [sv]. An art i gallery can be found in the city depicting his works.[22]
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Trelleborg is twinned with:
Media related toTrelleborg at Wikimedia Commons
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