Örnsköldsvik Municipality
Örnsköldsvik Municipality 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 municipalities.
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 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
- Gottne: 250
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 Höga Kusten Flyg, 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 Swedish Hockey League, 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 Nils Johansson, Per Svartvadet, Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund, Niklas Sundström, Andreas Salomonsson, Magnus Wernblom, Mattias Timander, Victor Hedman, Tobias Enström, and the twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin. The Sedin twins are top players for the Vancouver Canucks, and Hedman plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Many stars from hockey's previous generation, including Anders Hedberg, Thomas Gradin, and Anders Kallur were also either Örnsköldsvik natives and/or played in the town for the Modo Hockey club.- Frida Östberg,is a Swedish retired football midfielder who played for Umeå IK, Linköpings FC and Chicago Red Stars of Women's Professional Soccer. She is a former member of the Sweden women's national football team.
- Malin Moström, former captain of the Sweden women's national football team is also a native of Örnsköldsvik.
- Miah Persson, a Swedish soprano, active internationally and in recordings.
- Magdalena Forsberg, cross country skier and biathlete.
- Hans Hedberg, sculptor known for his ceramic fruit.
- Märta Norberg, cross country skier at the end of the 1940s and beginning of the 1950s.
- Tomas Haake and Mårten Hagström, members of the Swedish technical metal band Meshuggah.
- Thomas Hammarberg, diplomat and human rights activist.
- Niklas Edin, skip of the Swedish curling team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
- Fredrik Lindström, Swedish biathlete.
- Staffan Götestam, Swedish actor and musician
- Per Marklund, internationally recognized luthier.
- Yvonne Alt, worldwide known dancer.
- Åke Nordin, inventor, successful entrepreneur and founder of Fjällräven.
- Mikael Bohman, professional ice hockey goaltender
- Maud Olofsson, Politician is a Swedish former politician who was leader of the Swedish Centre Party from 2001 to 2011, Minister for Enterprise and Energy from 2006 to 2011 and Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2010. She was a member of the Riksdag from 2002 to 2011.
- Åsa Domeij, politician and an agronomist by training. She was a member of the Riksdag from 1988 until 1991 and then again from 2002 until 2006.
- Solveig Hellquist, is a Swedish Liberal People's Party politician, member of the Riksdag 2002–2010.
- Emma Nordin is a Swedish ice hockey player.
- Peter Artedi was a Swedish naturalist and is known as the "father of Ichthyology."
- Malin Hållberg-Leuf is a Swedish former competitive figure skater. She is the 2006 Swedish national champion.
- Eilert Pilarm is a Swedish Elvis impersonator. He gained fame when he performed on Morgonpasset in 1992.
- Kristina Lundberg is a Swedish ice hockey player. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Sister cities
- – 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; Naslund played for the Vancouver Canucks from 1996 to 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.