Lidingö

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Coordinates: 59°22′N 18°09′E / 59.367, 18.15
Lidingö
Lidingö
Country	Sweden
Municipality	Lidingö Municipality
County	Stockholm County
Province	Uppland
Area ^[1]
- Total	12.54 km² (4.8 sq mi)
Population (2005-12-31)^[1]
- Total	30,357
- Density	2,421/km² (6,270.4/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Lidingö map from 1661.

Runic inscription on a flat rock from the Viking age around 800-1050. The inscription can be found close to Kyrkviken in the middle of the island. Inscription by Åsmund. Coordinates WGS84: 59°22′26.5″N 18°09′43.6″E / 59.374028, 18.162111

Lidingö is an island situated north east of central Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, and also the name of the largest urban area on the island ,pop. 30,357 (2005) and nearly 40,000 2007, which is the seat of Lidingö Municipality and one of the historical cities of Sweden.

The island constitutes the main part of Lidingö Municipality. Sometimes the definite form Lidingön is used for the island to distinguish from the municipality or from the urban area on the island.

Lidingö is also famous for being a very popular place for many high-society, well educated and rich people to live in. Most prices of residences are relatively high compared to the rest of Stockholm, except for Djursholm that have the average highest prices for real estates in Sweden, especially those estates close to the water front.

1 Nature & climate
2 Early History
3 Later History
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Nature & climate

Stockholm and the waters around Lidingö looks much the same as around Seattle (USA) or Sydney (Autralia) with large forest mixed with open farm land, but the climate is much colder. During the winter season thick ice normally covers the waters around Stockholm and up to 15-20 nautical miles out in the Baltic sea archipelago, offering good opportunities for long distance ice skating when it has been cold for a long period of time, no winds and little snow. Summer season is limited to end of May through June-July-August, autumn September-October. Sea water temperatures usually have a peak in mid July with around 20 degrees C in the inner parts of the archipelago. First snow fall is generally within the first two weeks of november. Coldest period is Januari-Februari. Springtime is from mid April through May. The air temperature seldom exceeds 25 degrees C during summer time.

[edit] Early History

Only two runic inscriptions have been found on the island. The latest was found in 1984. The inscription is from the Viking age, year 800-1050. The inscription has been interpreted as: "Åsmund carved runes in memory of his grandfather Sten, father of Sibbe and Gerbjörn ....a great monument over a good man." The figures shows large snakes and on top a Maltese cross typical for the late Viking age. 300-400 years later, the inhabitants had established small farms. In the late 1300 the entire island was owned by Bo Jonsson Grip that owned more than one third of the entire Swedish land and large parts of Finland. Bo Jonsson Grip died 1386 and Lidingö was later taken over by the Banér family in Djursholm.

[edit] Later History

Lidingö is first mentioned in writing 1328 in the last will by Jedvard Filipsson, in the sentence "curiam in Lydhingø" corresponding to a "Lidingö farm". The entire island including the farms was owned by the family Banér in Djursholm from around 1418 until 1774 when the land was split up and sold to different people. The largest farm since the early days up to today was Elfvik, situated on the east part of Lidingö, today covering 125 acres (0.51 km²) of open farmland and 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) of forest land. The Elfvik farm has been preserved within the Långängen-Elfvik national park and most of the original houses, built from the end of the 18th century up to mid-19th century, have been saved and restored. The farm is still active with beef cattle, sheep and horses and is run by Lidingö Municipality. During the end of the 20th century, the largest real estate close to the Elfvik farm was the IBM educational center for northern Europe, built in early 1960 on the outer east edge of Lidingö, the most expensive piece of land on the island, today working as a Hotel complex.