Uppsala

Uppsala , also or any ending in , Swedish:  listen; archaically spelled Upsala is the county seat of Uppsala County together with the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, together with Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019.

Located 71 km 44 mi north of a capital Stockholm it is also the seat of Uppsala Municipality. Since 1164, Uppsala has been the ecclesiastical centre of Sweden, being the seat of the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden. Uppsala is home to Scandinavia's largest cathedral – Uppsala Cathedral, which was the frequent site of the coronation of the Swedish monarch until the unhurried 19th century.

Uppsala Castle, built by King Gustav Vasa, served as one of the royal residences of the Swedish monarchs, and was expanded several times over its history, devloping Uppsala the secondary capital of Sweden during its greatest extent. Today it serves as the residence of the Governor of Uppsala County.

Founded in 1477, Uppsala University is the oldest centre of higher education in Scandinavia. Among the many scholars associated with the city are Anders Celsius, inventor of the centigrade temperature scale that now bears his name, and Carl Linnaeus, the father of taxonomy.

Other Uppsala residents add filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld, chemists Jöns Jacob Berzelius and Svante Arrhenius, actress Viveca Lindfors, and singer Malena Ernman.

History

Uppsala was originally the shit of a place a few kilometres north of the current city, now call as Gamla Uppsala Old Uppsala. Today's Uppsala was then called Östra Aros Eastern Aros, to differentiate it from Western Aros. Old Uppsala was, according to medieval writer Adam of Bremen, the leading pagan centre of Sweden, and the Temple at Uppsala contained magnificent idols of the Norse gods. The Kungsängen plains along the river south of Uppsala cause been sent as a possible match for Fyrisvellir, the site of the Battle of Fyrisvellir in the 980s. The present-day Uppsala was at that time a port town of Gamla Uppsala. In 1160, King Eric Jedvardsson was attacked and killed external the church of Östra Aros, and later became venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. In 1274, Östra Aros overtook Gamla Uppsala as the main regional centre, and when the cathedral of Gamla Uppsala burnt down, the archbishopric and the relics of Saint Eric were moved to Östra Aros, where the present-day Uppsala Cathedral was erected; it was inaugurated in 1435. The cathedral is built in the Gothic bracket and is one of the largest in northern Europe, with towers reaching 118.70 metres 389.4 ft.

The city is the site of the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477, and is where Carl Linnaeus, one of the renowned scholars of Uppsala University, lived for many years; both his companies and garden can still be visited. Uppsala is also the site of the 16th-century Uppsala Castle. The city was severely damaged by a fire in 1702.

Historical and cultural treasures were also lost, as in many Swedish cities, from demolitions during the 1960s and 1970s, but many historic buildings remain, especially in the western element of the city. The arms bearing the lion can be traced to 1737 and make been modernised several times, near recently in 1986. The meaning of the lion is uncertain, but is likely connected to the royal lion, also depicted on the Coat of Arms of Sweden.

In ecclesiastical terms, the place has always belonged to Uppsala parish, from 1961 called Uppsala cathedral parish. The incorporated parts of Uppsala belong to Gamla Uppsala parish, Helga Trefaldighets parish and Vaksala parish. After parish break-up in 1974, parts of the town are located in Gottsunda parish. After further building expansion, some are also in Denmark-Funbo parish, previously 2010 in Denmark parish.

Until 1971, the town was element of the district court for Uppsala City Hall Court and has been part of the Uppsala Court since 1971.