Karlskrona Stadium

Karlskrona (UK: /ˈkɑːrlskroʊnə/,US: /kɑːrlzˈkruːnə/,Swedish: [kaɭsˈkruːna] (listen)) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 66,675 inhabitants in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Sweden's only remaining naval base and the headquarters of the Swedish Coast Guard.

History

The island on which Karlskrona was built, Trosso, was owned during the 17th century by the farmer Vittus Andersson. On the mainland a couple of kilometers away there was during the Danish time another, older town called Lycka and a couple of miles away the Danes had started to build Kristianopel before Blekinge became Swedish in 1658. Until 1679, the island as well as the nearest islets were owned by the farmer Vittus Andersson, who was now forced to sell his properties to the Swedish crown and the same year plans began to locate most of the kingdom's fleet on Trosso.

The city was founded on 10 August 1680 when the Royal Swedish Navy was relocated from the Stockholm area to the Trosso island which had up until then been used chiefly for farming and grazing. At the time Sweden was the dominant military power in the Baltic sea region, but needed a better strategic location against Denmark, since southern parts of Sweden had been conquered only a few decades before (see the Torstenson War). The Swedish fleet tended to get stuck in the ice during winter while located close to Stockholm and was therefore moved south. The island had a very strategic position with short sailing distances to the German and Baltic provinces. The city name means Karl's Crown in honour of King Karl XI of Sweden, the name being inspired by the name of the city Landskrona.

In 1682, bridges were built that connected the city center with the mainland. The first city plan, drawn up in 1683 by Erik Dahlbergh, Hans Wachtmeister and Carl Magnus Stuart, shows Karlskrona as a pure fortress. The 1694 plan by Erik Dahlberg, whi