Borås
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  Borås
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country | Sweden | ||
| Municipality | Borås Municipality | ||
| County | Västra Götaland County | ||
| Province | Västergötland | ||
| Area [1] | |||
| - Total | 29.61 km² (11.4 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2005-12-31)[1] | |||
| - Total | 63,441 | ||
| - Density | 2,142/km² (5,547.8/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
Borås (pronounced [buˈroːs]) is a city in the traditional province of Västergötland, western Sweden and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County. It has a population of 63,500 with 100,000 people living in the metropolitan area.
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[edit] Geography
Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them the railway between Gothenburg and Kalmar, and is often considered[citation needed] the Swedish city gaining the most from the nationwide railway system laid between 1870-1910. Borås has railroad and motorway connections with Gothenburg, ca. 60 km west.
[edit] History
The city of Borås received its privileges in 1622 King Gustav II Adolf. The reason was to give local pedlars a legal place for vending their merchandise. The city developed soom after it was founded. After a century it had increased to over 2,000 inhabitants.
Borås has been ravaged by fires four times: in 1681, 1727, 1822 and 1827. The Caroli church is the oldest of Borås's buildings, and has withstood all fires.
[edit] Industry
Borås is the leading textile city of Sweden, starting as a location spot for textile mills. The city arms depicts two sheep-shearing scissors, a tribute to the vast number of smiths in the town in early history. It currently holds the Swedish record in the number of established mail-order firms.
The company Swedac is based in the city, as well as Ericsson, who has a large manufacturing plant where Mini-Link microwave radios are manufactured.
Outside the city in the industrial park of Viared, there are many companies specialising in logistics. Industries in Borås have close collaboration with the University College of Borås as well as the SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, the largest technical research institute of Sweden, both located in Borås. Besides being the home of the official Swedish Kilogram-weight and the atomic clock that sets the national time, SP conducts various testing and research to promote consumer safety.
Since the 1990's and early 2000, Borås has transformed to a modern ICT (IT, communications and telecom) city with the arrival of efficient call center, logistics and IT companies. These companies have helped transform Borås to a leading Nordic e-commerce city with companies such as Eniro. Borås has become a leading trade center within the fast growing e-commerce sector and traditional mail order companies such as Ellos, Haléns, Josefsson, H&M Rowells has handled this transition very well and received numerous awards as leading e-commerce companies.
[edit] Sports
The most successful sports team is the football team IF Elfsborg, Swedish champions in 2006. Elfsborg was founded in 1904, but received its current name in 1906. The team's home arena is since 2005 Borås Arena (formerly Ryavallen Stadium) in Borås, with a capacity of 15000. Elfsborg play in yellow and black.
Other (but not that successful) teams are Borås Hockey Club, M7 (a basketball team that worked together with Magic Johnson for a short while) and Borås Rhinos which is an American football team.
The successful table tennis club Mariedals IK currently got three players in the Swedish youth team. Hampus Soderlund, Mattias Oversjo and Jimmy Ojakangas.
Other sports that can be practiced in Borås are track-and-field, handball, table tennis, tennis, skiing, orienteering, archery, sport shooting, swimming, golf, equestrian, bowling, cheerleading and various martial arts. Borås Judoclub has tried to create a national center for judo. Members from the club that has participated in the olympics include Per Kjellin and Lars Adolfsson (who competed twice).
Boråshallen is the largest indoor sports hall in Borås, where the popular Mariedal Cup is held.
The Mariedal cup is held annually in October or November. It is alleged to be the world's largest indoor cup in football for junior players, and takes a whole weekend with over 100 teams participating. It started in 1978 in its current form.
[edit] Gallery
 City park |
 City hall |
 Panorama at winter |
 The old water tower |
 The old Pensionat Lyckebo |
[edit] Culture
- Hemvärnets Musikkår Borås - A marching and sitting orchestra
- Borås kulturskola - The culture school of Borås
- Borås kulturhus - Theater, Library, Museum of Art
- Borås Tidning - The local newspaper.
- Textilmuseet - A museum about textile manufacturing and clothes.
- Borås djurpark - The local zoo. They have successfully raised a number of different animals and even exported lions to other zoo's.
- Åhaga - A renovated building that previously were used to maintain and repair locomotives. Now used for conferences and concerts.
Every summer, a number of free outdoor concerts are held on the town square on Thursday evenings by some of the biggest artists in Sweden.
There is a lot of controversy in the city about a 9 meter tall statue depicting Pinocchio by artist Jim Dine.
[edit] Districts
Municipal subdistrict Göta
- Göta
- Kristineberg
- Dammsvedjan
- Hedvigsborg
Municipal subdistrict Sjöbo
- Sjöbo
- Erikslund
Municipal subdistrict Brämhult
- Brämhult
- Trandared
- Hulta
- Hässleholmen
Municipal subdistrict Norrby
- Norrby
- Byttorp
- Tullen
- Hestra
Municipal subdistrict Centrum (city)
Municipal subdistrict Sandhult
[edit] Notable natives
- Ingvar Carlsson, former prime minister
- Helena Paparizou, 2005 Eurovision winner and Greek singer
- Carolina Klüft, heptathlete
- Magnus Carlsson, pop singer
[edit] Schools
See also University College of Borås
[edit] High schools
- Almåsgymnasiet
- Bäckängsgymnasiet
- Sven Erikssons Gymnasiet
- Viskastrandsgymnasiet
[edit] References
- ^ a b Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km2 2000 och 2005 (xls) (Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved on 2008-05-15.
[edit] External links
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Borås is one of 134 towns with the historical City status in Sweden. |
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