Images of Stockholm

[Dreamwoven]

I don't know if pictures from google images or images from any other images programme (perhaps microsoft or others) can be read from a link, but I give it a try. Yes, it works.

If you have not visited Stockholm you should know that it is called the Venice of the north (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_of_the_North), along with other cities that have canals. But Stockholm is also built on a series of 14 islands, including the padlock itself, The Old Town (Gamla Stan (https://www.google.se/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1187&bih=644&q=gamla+stan&oq=gamla+stan&gs_l=img.12..0l10.1308.8602.0.11235.10.8.0.2.2.0.1 20.911.0j8.8.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.10.914.O0xtk 8t8Upw)) It is also called Mälaren's padlock, as it commands the entrance to the large Lake Mälaren (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mälaren) from the Baltic.

The islands of Stockholm are called holms (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holm_(island)). A holm is an island in Scotland , also in Denmark. But as far as I am aware the only capital city built on a series of holms is Stockholm.

In any event I will use this thread to describe the various holms on which Stockholm is built. In general they are inner areas of Stockholm ("within the tolls" as this area is called (inom tullarna).

[Dreamwoven]

The main holm on which the Old Town is built is called Stadsholmen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadsholmen). Riddarholmen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riddarholmen) (The Knight's Islet) adjoins and links to Stadsholmen by bridge. It has the original castle by Birger Jarl (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birger_Jarl) and Riddarholm Church (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riddarholm_Church) (previously a Greyfriars Monastery).

There are a cluster of other holms, especially Helgeandsholmen and Strömsborg: a partial overview can be seen here (http://www.visitsweden.com/sweden/Regions--Cities/Stockholm/Culture-in-Stockholm/Old-Town/):

In future posts I will look a the wider defensive measures taken to protect the original Old Town. For Mälaren's padlock is set in the wider archipelago which comprises a further level of fortified places protecting Stockholm.

[Dreamwoven]

There are three main inlets through the archipelago that permit large ships to enter the city berths. The northernmost one is via an inlet at Vaxholm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaxholm). The Citadel can be seen in images under Vaxholm Fortress, where there are many alternatives to choose between. This (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaxholm#/media/File:Vaxholm_fortress.jpg) one is probably the most common. There is also one to the south of Stockholm at Landsort (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsort), though that is not protected by a fortress, even though minor defences are still visible.

For more on the military history of this coast you can read about it on this webpage on Fortifications and Military History (http://www.stockholmarchipelago.se/en/culture-and-local-cuisine/fortifications-and-military-history/). The number of fortified places protecting the entrances of Stockholm is considerable, stretching from Norrtälje to Landsort.

At one point one of the sea routes into Stockholm was being made un-navigable by dropping many stones in it. But as shipping size increased the attempt was abandoned. I remember looking this up in the early 1970s but can no longer find the link.

Here are some possible websites to search:
https://www.abc.se/~pa/publ/land&sea.htm
https://www.abc.se/~pa/uwa/

You only need to take one of the large Baltic shipping companies that operate between Stockholm and Finland, like the Stockholm-Turku Ferry (http://www.directferries.co.uk/stockholm_turku_ferry.htm). Some times of the day there are more than one almost in convoy, weaving in and out by the navigable channels en route via Vaxholm and beyond the open sea.

There are some 24,000 islands, islets, and skerries associated with the Stockholm Archipelago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_archipelago). Of course, Stockholm has grown considerably in the last 10 years, and continues to do so. One of the earliest expansions was to the large island immediately south of Stadsholmen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadsholmen), Södermalm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Södermalm).

[YesNo]

In looking at some of the links the process of post-glacial rebound is interesting and it is still happening. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-glacial_rebound

[Dreamwoven]

That is true, YesNo.

The same can be seen in Sweden. Uppsala Cathedral used to be in what is now called Gamla Uppsala (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamla_Uppsala). This was also the site of large mounds in which viking kings were buried. Old Uppsala was then a cathedral, and the river that flows south from Old Uppsala is thought to have been navigable by longboats. This is what Wikipedia on Gamla Uppsala writes regarding the falling sea level:

People have been buried in Gamla Uppsala for 2,000 years, since the area rose above water. Originally there were between 2,000 and 3,000 mounds in the area but most have become farmland, gardens and quarries. Today only 250 barrows remain..

Uppsala Cathedral became the main Cathedral after a fire in Gamla Uppsala Cathedral (now Church).

[YesNo]

It is interesting how climate change can affect the land as well. I keep thinking the ground is "solid".

[Dreamwoven]

And so it is in the lifetime of a person, even in several lifetimes. But it is part of what geologist call post-glacial rebound (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-glacial_rebound). Finland suffered more from this than Sweden, the map of Finland (attached (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-glacial_rebound#/media/File:Suomi_jaakauden_jalkeen.png)) shows how much smaller Finland was in that era.