Örnsköldsvik Municipality

Örnsköldsviks kommun
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms
Country	Sweden
County	Västernorrland County
Seat	Örnsköldsvik
Area[1]
– Total	8,484.87 km2 (3,276 sq mi)
– Land	6,420.97 km2 (2,479.2 sq mi)
– Water	2,063.9 km2 (796.9 sq mi)
	Area as of January 1, 2010.
Population (June 30, 2010)[2]
– Total	55,209
– Density	6.5/km2 (16.9/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
– Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code
ISO 3166 code	SE
Province	Ångermanland
Municipal code	2284
Density is calculated using land area only.

Örnsköldsvik Municipality (Örnsköldsviks kommun) is one of Sweden's 290 municipalities, in Västernorrland County in northern Sweden. Its seat is in the town Örnsköldsvik. The present municipality was created in 1971 by the amalgamation of the City of Örnsköldsvik with seven former rural municiplities.

Geography

Örnsköldsvik is situated near the northern end of the "High Coast", which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has the third longest suspension bridge in Europe, the Höga Kusten Bridge. The city is located around 100 km south of Umeå and 550 km north of Stockholm. The area is dominated by forest, but it also contains minor areas of agriculture.

Population distribution (31 December 2005)

The municipality of Örnsköldsvik is built up from a number of parishes, within which are towns and villages. The population is distributed as follows:

Parish (town) number of citizens

• Örnsköldsvik: 9,123
• Arnäs: 7,653
• Anundsjö: 4,100
  • Bredbyn: 1,216
  • Mellansel: 821
• Skorped: 667
• Sidensjö: 1,192
• Nätra: 5,402
  • Bjästa: 1,777
  • Köpmanholmen: 1,263
• Själevad: 18,960
  • Domsjö
  • Gullänget
  • Sund
  • Gene
• Mo: 1,309
• Grundsunda: 3,214
• Gideå: 1,215
• Björna: 1,586
• Trehörningsjö: 522

Total: 54,943

Transportation

Main road transportations are provided by the European route E4. The Örnsköldsvik Airport provides daily flights to and from the Stockholm-Arlanda Airport courtesy of SAS, and also charter flights to Turkey courtesy of Pegasus Airlines. Railway transportation will in the future be provided by high-speed railway Botniabanan, which is currently under construction. There is also a harbour, where cargo ships load and unload timber and other merchandise. In North America the town is known for its excellent hockey players, a number of whom play with the NHL.

Recreation and sports

Due to the hilly surroundings, hiking and exploring the scenery of the High Coast is popular in the area. In the wintertime, skiing is popular. Both cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and even ski jumping is practiced almost in the downtown area. Since Örnsköldsvik is a coastal town, there are also beaches near town, as well as campsites. There's also an indoor water park called Paradisbadet, with one of the longest water slides in Europe.

Sports is also popular, the main spectator sport in town is ice hockey, with the local team Modo Hockey in Elitserien, the main league for ice hockey in Sweden. The local football teams are not quite as successful, but still pretty popular, on the men's side especially the teams Friska Viljor FC from central Örnsköldsvik and Anundsjö IF from Bredbyn outside of town, and women's Själevads IK. A couple floorball teams from town have also had some success.

Notable natives

Örnsköldsvik is the birthplace of many world-famous ice hockey players, including Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund, Niklas Sundström, and twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin. Samuel Påhlsson, also an ice hockey player, lived there for a long time but was born in Ånge. Many stars from hockey's previous generation, including Anders Hedberg, Thomas Gradin and Anders Kallur, were also either Örnsköldsvik natives (Hedberg) and/or played in the town for the Modo Hockey club.

• Malin Moström, captain and key player in the Sweden women's national football team is also a native of Örnsköldsvik.
• Magdalena Forsberg, cross-country skier and biathlete.
• Hans Hedberg, sculptor known for his gigantic ceramic fruit.
• Märta Norberg, outstanding cross-country skier in the end of the 1940s and beginning of 1950s.
• Thomas Hammarberg, diplomat and human rights activist.

Sister cities

Örnsköldsvik's sister cities are:

• - Äänekoski, Finland
• - Sigdal, Norway
• - Hveragerði, Iceland
• - Brande, Denmark
• - Tarp, Germany

Etymology

• The original town was named after County Governor Per Abraham Örnsköld
• The name Örnsköldsvik is sometimes unofficially translated into English as Eagleshieldsbay.

Notable residents

• Markus Näslund, and twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin, are all from Örnsköldsvik Municipality; Nazzy played for the Vancouver Canucks from 1996-2008 and his number was retired by the team in honour of his many accomplishments in December 2010, while the Sedins are captain and deputy captain of the team in 2010-11.

See also

• 1976 Winter Paralympics
• Modo Hockey

References

1. ^ "Statistiska centralbyrån den 1 januari 2010" (in Swedish) (Microsoft Excel). Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/Statistik/MI/MI0802/2010A01/mi0802tab3_2010.xls. Retrieved 2010-08-21. 
2. ^ "SCB, Befolkningsstatistik 30 juni 2010" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/Pages/TableAndChart____244147.aspx. Retrieved 2010-08-19. 

External links

• Örnsköldsvik - Official site
• Örnsköldsvik Tourist Information (available in English, German and Swedish)
• Mid-Sweden University College at Örnsköldsvik
• Campus Örnsköldsvik at Umeå University
• (English) Örnsköldsvik airport
• (Swedish) article Örnsköldsvik from Nordisk Familjebok (1922).

Coordinates: 63°17′N 18°44′E / 63.283°N 18.733°E / 63.283; 18.733