Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
surrounding districts was only too obvious. When
Nils Holgersson
, a character created
by the children's author Selma Lagerlöf (see p.142), looked down from the back of his
flying goose (see the picture on 20kr notes), he remarked: “There was something funny
about it when you saw it from above, because in the middle there was a group of high
stone houses, so impressive that they hardly had their equal in Stockholm. Around the
stone houses was an empty space, and then there was a circle of wooden houses, which
were pleasantly scattered in little gardens, but which seemed to carry an awareness of
being of lesser value than the stone houses and therefore dared not come too close.”
Storatorget
As you walk in from the train station, the sheer scale of the rebuilding here after
the 1888 fire is clear to see.
Esplanaden
, the wide central avenue, cuts the grid of streets
in two; towards its northern end it's crossed by
Storgatan
, the widest road in town.
Storatorget
, the central square, is a delightfully roomy shopping and commercial
centre, home to the city hall and various impromptu exhibitions and displays, as well as
a fresh fruit and veg market (May to early Sept Mon-Sat 9am-4pm). The limestone
and brick buildings are four- and five-storey palatial structures. As you stroll the streets,
you can't help but be amazed by the tremendous amount of open space that surrounds
you, even in the heart of the city; Sundsvall is unique among Swedish cities in this
respect, yet it's the most densely populated metropolis in northern Sweden.
7
Kulturmagasinet
Packhusgatan 4 • Mon-Thurs 10am-7pm, Fri 10am-6pm, Sat & Sun 11am-4pm • Free •
W
sundsvall.se/kulturmagasinet
Several of the buildings in the centre are worth a second look, not least the sturdy
Kulturmagasinet
, housed within two blocks of late nineteenth-century warehouses,
spanned by a glass roof, at, down by the harbour. The buildings stood empty for twenty
years before a decision was taken to turn them into what's now the
Kulturmagasinet
,
comprising museum, library and café. The museum is actually built over an old street,
Magasinsgatan, once boasting train tracks running between the warehouses to carry
loads of coffee and rice. Deserving of a quick look, the first floor of the museum does
its best to depict the history of Sundsvall, including the great fire of 1888, and the
province of Medelpad. Up on the second and third floors, the art exhibition warrants a
few minutes of your time: the works of twentieth-century Swedish artists are on show
here, in particular, those of the local artist and sculptor Carl Frisendahl (1886-1948)
whose early style is heavily influenced by Rodin. At the age of 20, Frisendahl studied in
Paris where he met his wife, Marie Barbaud. Forsaking his native Sweden for a studio
in Montparnasse, he began painting in the 1920s; his works, which often depict
animals and mythological figures in combat, clearly show inspiration from Delacroix
and Orthon Friesz.
Gustav Adolfs kyrka
Rådhusgatan 36 • June-Aug daily 11am-4pm; Sept-May Mon-Sat noon-3pm
At the western end of the main pedestrian street, Storgatan, you'll come across a soaring
red-brick structure from 1894,
Gustav Adolfs kyrka
, which marks the western end of the
new town. The church's interior looks like a large Lego set, its pillars, vaults and window
frames all constructed from smooth bricks, making an eye-pleasing picture of order.
Norra Berget and Gaffelbyn
Beyond the city's design, the most attractive diversion is the tiring 3km climb to the
heights of
Gaffelbyn
on
Norra Berget
, the hill that overlooks the city to the north;
