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European Vacations -
Sweden Vacation Packages &
Travel Information |
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Overview |
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Stockholm is the capital of Sweden,
and consequently the site of its
Government and Parliament as well as
the residence of the Swedish head of
state, King Carl XVI Gustaf. It is
also the largest city in the Nordic
countries.
Stockholm has been Sweden's
political and economic center since
the 13th century and is currently
the largest city, with a population
of 774,000 within the borders of the
Stockholm Municipality. The
populations of the Stockholm urban
area and Metropolitan Stockholm are
roughly 1.2 and 1.7 million,
respectively.
Stockholm is located on the east
coast of Sweden at the mouth of lake
Mälaren and its adjacent Stockholm
archipelago, a site reputed for its
natural beauty.Stockholm is
located on Sweden's east coast,
where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic
Sea. The central parts of the city
consists of fourteen islands, all
part of the archipelago. The
geographical city centre is
virtually situated on the water, in
the bay Riddarfjärden. (Coordinates:
59°21′N 18°4′E.)
For details about the other
municipalities usually considered
part of Stockholm, see respective
municipality. North of Stockholm
Municipality: Järfälla, Solna, Täby,
Sollentuna, Lidingö, Upplands Väsby,
Österåker, Sigtuna, Sundbyberg,
Danderyd, Vallentuna, Ekerö,
Upplands-Bro and Vaxholm. South of
Stockholm: Huddinge, Nacka, Botkyrka,
Haninge, Tyresö, Värmdö and Salem. |
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Culture |
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Apart from being a large city with
an active cultural life, Stockholm,
being the capital, houses many
national culture institutions. Most
notable, there are two UNESCO World
Heritage sites in the Stockholm
area: the Royal Palace Drottningholm
(within Ekerö Municipality) and the
Forest Cemetery Skogskyrkogården.
The oldest part of Stockholm is the
Stockholm Old Town, Gamla stan, with
its main part on the islet
Stadsholmen. It features the
medieval street system, where two
main streets (Österlånggatan and
Västerlånggatan) cross it, and
several small alleys diverging
towards the water. Some notable
buildings of the Gamla Stan are the
large German Church (Tyska kyrkan),
several mansions and palaces: the
Riddarhuset (the House of Nobles),
the Bonde Palace, the Tessin Palace
and the Oxenstierna Palace.
During 1998 Stockholm was selected
European City of Culture.The most
renowned national museum is the
Swedish National Museum of Fine
Arts, with Sweden's largest
collection of art: 16,000 paintings
and 30,000 objects of art
handicraft. The collection stems
back to the days of Gustav Vasa in
the 16th century, and has since been
expanded with works by artists such
as Rembrandt, and Antoine Watteau,
as well as constituting a main part
of Sweden's art heritage, manifested
in the works of Alexander Roslin,
Anders Zorn, Johan Tobias Sergel,
Carl Larsson, Carl Fredrik Hill and
Ernst Josephson. Most of Stockholm's
state-operated museums have free
entrance.
The Museum of Modern Art, or Modern
Muséet, is Sweden's national museum
of modern art. It has works by
foremost modern artists such as
Picasso and Salvador Dalí.
Other notable museums:
* City Museum of Stockholm
* Skansen, the archetype of open air
museums, inaugurated 1891.
Stockholm is basically the media
center of Sweden. It has four nation
wide daily newspapers, is also the
central location of the governmental
radio (SR) and television (SVT); in
addition, all other major televion
channels have there base in
Stockholm (TV4 TV3, ZTV and Kanal
5). All major magazines are also
located to Stockholm, as are the
largest literature publisher, the
Bonnier group. |
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