Scania

Coordinates: 55°48′N 13°37′E / 55.800°N 13.617°E / 55.800; 13.617
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the vehicle manufacturer, see Scania AB. For other uses, see Skåne (disambiguation) and Scania (disambiguation).

Scania
Skåne
Historical province
Coat of arms of Scania
Coat of arms
UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal codes
20000–29999
Area codes040–046

Scania (

city, Malmö, is the third-largest city in Sweden, as well as the fifth-largest in Scandinavia
.

To the north, Scania borders the former provinces of

Sound and connects Scania with Denmark. Scania forms part of the transnational Øresund Region.[5]

From north to south Scania is around 130 km; it covers less than 3% of Sweden's total area. The population of over 1,320,000[6] represents 13% of the country's population. With 121 inhabitants per square kilometre (310/sq mi) Scania is the second-most densely populated province of Sweden.

Historically, Scania formed part of the kingdom of Denmark until the signing of the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658.[7] Denmark regained control of the province (1676–1679) during the Scanian War and again briefly in 1711 during the Great Northern War. Scania has been an undisputed part of Sweden since 1720.[8][9]

Name

Endonym and exonyms

The

exonym in English.[3] Sometimes the endonym Skåne is used in English text, such as in tourist information,[10] even sometimes as Skane with the diacritic omitted.[11][12] Scania (as also Dalarna) is one of the few Swedish provinces for which exonyms are widely used in many languages, such as French Scanie, Dutch and German Schonen, Polish Skania, Spanish Escania, Italian Scania, etc. For the province's modern administrative counterpart, Skåne län, the endonym Skåne is used in English.[13]

In the

Orosius's and Wulfstan's travel accounts, the Old English form Sconeg appears.[14][15] Frankish sources mention a place called Sconaowe; Æthelweard, an Anglo-Saxon historian, wrote about Scani;[16] and in Beowulf's fictional account, the names Scedenige and Scedeland appear as names for what is a Danish land.[14]

Etymology

The names Scania and Scandinavia are considered to have the same etymology.[17][18][19][20] The southernmost tip of what is today Sweden was called Scania by the Romans and thought to be an island. The actual etymology of the word remains dubious and has long been a matter of debate among scholars. The name is possibly derived from the Germanic root *Skaðin-awjã, which appears in Old Norse as Skáney [ˈskɑːnˌœy].[21] According to some scholars, the Germanic stem can be reconstructed as *Skaðan- meaning "danger" or "damage" (English scathing, German Schaden, Swedish skada).[22] Skanör in Scania, with its long Falsterbo reef, has the same stem (skan) combined with -ör, which means "sandbanks".

Administration

See also:
Region Skåne, Counties of Sweden, and Municipalities of Sweden
The two counties of Scania from 1719 to 1996

Between 1719 and 1996, the province was subdivided in two administrative counties (län), Kristianstad County and Malmöhus County, each under a governor (landshövding) appointed by the central government of Sweden.

When the first

county council
(landsting). The counties were further divided into municipalities.

The local government reform of 1952 reduced the number of municipalities, and a second subdivision reform, carried out between 1968 and 1974, established today's 33 municipalities[23] (Swedish: kommuner) in Scania. The municipalities have municipal governments, similar to city commissions, and are further divided into parishes (församlingar). The parishes are primarily entities of the Church of Sweden, but they also serve as a divisioning measure for the Swedish population registration and other statistical uses.

In 1999, the

Skåne Regional Council (Region Skåne), responsible mainly for public healthcare, public transport and regional planning
and culture.

Heraldry

See also: Swedish heraldry and Danish heraldry
Letter from Eric of Pomerania dated 1437, with a description of the arms granted to the city of Malmö
.
The coat of arms of Scania in an engraving from 1712 in Erik Dahlbergh's Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna
.

During the Danish era, the province had no

erased gules, crowned azure
and armed azure, when it should be armed.

The province was divided in two administrative

Region Skåne. It is the only one of its kind using a heraldic coat of arms. It is also the same as the province's and the county's, but with a golden griffin's head on a blue shield.[25] The 33 municipalities
within the county also have coats of arms.

The Scania Griffin has become a well-known symbol for the province and is also used by commercial enterprises. It is, for instance, included in the

Malmö Aviation
.

Coat of arms

History

Main article: History of Scania
Ale's Stones, a stone ship (burial monument) from c. 500 AD on the coast at Kåseberga, around ten kilometres (6.2 miles) south east of Ystad
.
Gerhard von Buhrman's map of Scania, 1684
Map of Scania, 1690
Map of Denmark in the Middle Ages, Scania was together with the provinces Blekinge and Halland
a part of Denmark
Front page of the latest and current peace treaty between Denmark and Sweden, Swedish version

Scania was first mentioned in written texts in the 9th century. It came under Danish king Harald Bluetooth in the middle of the 10th century. It was then a region that included Blekinge and Halland, situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula and formed the eastern part of the kingdom of Denmark. This geographical position made it the focal point of the frequent Dano-Swedish wars for hundreds of years.

By the

Governor-General, the province was eventually integrated into the kingdom of Sweden. The last Danish attempt to regain its lost provinces failed after the 1710 Battle of Helsingborg
.

In 1719, the province was subdivided in two counties and administered in the same way as the rest of Sweden. Scania has since that year been fully integrated in the Swedish nation. In the following summer, July 1720, the last peace treaty between Sweden and Denmark was signed.[26][27]

On 28 November 2017 it was ruled that the Scanian flag would become the official flag of Scania.[28][29]

Politics

During Sweden's financial crisis in the early and mid-1990s, Scania,

Västra Götaland already in 1993. When Sweden joined the European Union two years later, the concept "Regions of Europe" came in focus and a more regionalist-friendly approach was adopted in national politics.[31] These factors contributed to the subsequent transformation of Skåne County into one of the first "trial regions" in Sweden in 1999, established as the country's first "regional experiment".[31]

The relatively strong regional identity in Scania is often referred to in order to explain the general support in the province for the

Region Skåne in Scania, scholars have found that the prevailing trend among the inhabitants of Scania is to "[look] upon their region with more positive eyes and a firm reliance that it would deliver the goods in terms of increased democracy and constructive results out of economic planning".[33]

Transportation

E6
, here at motorway service Glumslöv, is the artery of the western part of the province.
All local, regional and inter-regional train services within Scania (2018). In all, 72 stations are served, during day times at least one train per hour and direction. Many stations (especially in the west) have far better service than so. The most busy part is between Hyllie (Malmö) and Lund.

Electrified dual track railroad exists from the border with Denmark at the Øresund Bridge to Malmö and onwards to Lund. The latter part is currently being upgraded to four tracks and expected to enter service in 2023.[34] In Lund, the tracks split into two directions.[35] The dual tracks going towards Gothenburg end at Helsingborg,[36] while the other branch continues beyond the provincial border to neighbouring Småland, close to Killeberg.[37][35] This latter dual track continues to mid-Sweden.[35] There are also a few single track railroads connecting cities like Trelleborg, Ystad and Kristianstad.[35] Just as five Scanian stations are served partly (Hässleholm and Osby) or entirely (Ballingslöv, Hästveda and Killeberg) by Småland local trains, the Scanian Pågatåg trains serve Markaryd in Småland.[38]

There are basically three ticket systems: Skånetrafiken tickets can be purchased for all regional traffic including to Denmark, while the Danish Rejsekort system can only be used at stations served by Øresundståg and equipped with special card readers. Additionally, Swedish national SJ-tickets are available for longer trips to the north.

The

motorway is the main artery through the western part of Scania all the way from Trelleborg to the provincial border towards neighbouring Halland. It continues along the Swedish west coast to Gothenburg and most of the way to the Norwegian border. There are also several other motorways, especially around Malmö. Since 2000, the economic focus of the region has changed, with the opening of a road link across the Øresund Bridge to Denmark.[39]

The car ferry service between Helsingborg and Helsingør has 70 departures in each direction daily as of 2014.[40]

There are three minor airports in

Sturup, Ängelholm and Kristianstad. The nearby Copenhagen Airport, which is the largest international airport in the Nordic countries, also serves the province.[41]

Geography and environmental factors

Land usage in Scania, showing hardwood forests (light green), pinewood forests (dark green), fields (yellow), garden and fruit (orange) and residential areas (red)
Aerial view of Scania near Lund
A typical Beech forest, the Western edge of Karlslund in Northern Landskrona
rapefields
are typical for this area of Sweden.

Unlike some regions of Sweden, the Scanian landscape is generally not

Göinge parts of Scania along the border with the forest-dominated province of Småland
. While the landscape typically has a slightly sloping profile, in some places, such as north of Malmö, the terrain is almost completely flat.

The narrow lakes with a long north to south extent, which are very common further north, are lacking in Scania. The largest lake,

Ivösjön in the north-east, has similarities with the lakes further north, but has a different shape. All other lakes tend to be round, oval or of more complex shape and also lack any specific cardinal direction. Ringsjön, in the middle of the province, is the largest of such lakes.[citation needed
] In the winter, some smaller lakes east of Lund often attract young Eurasian sea eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla).

Typical Scanian coastline, here southern peak of Ven island in Øresund. The yellow colour indicates sand rather than chalk, while white colour at similar cliffs indicates chalk rather than sand

Where the sea meets higher parts of the sloping landscape, cliffs emerge. Such cliffs are white if the soil has a high content of chalk. Good examples of such coastlines exist at the southern side of

Ven, between the towns of Helsingborg and Landskrona, and in parts of the south and south-east coasts. In other Swedish provinces, steep coastlines usually reveal primary rock
instead.

The two major plains,

rape (grown for its oil), although these plants are less imperative in comparison with sugar beets.[43][clarification needed] The soil is among the most fertile in the world.[citation needed
]

The Kullaberg Nature Preserve in northwest Scania is home to several rare species including spring vetchling, Lathyrus sphaericus.[44]

Geology and geomorphology

[T]he present landscape is a mosaic of landforms shaped during widely different ages.

— Karna Lidmar-Bergström and co-workers.[45]

The gross relief of Scania reflects more the preglacial development than the

Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone in the late Cretaceous. The Scanian horsts run in a north-west to south-east direction, marking the southwest border of Fennoscandia.[47] Tectonic activity of the Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone during the break-up of Pangaea in the Jurassic and Cretaceous epochs led to the formation of hundreds of small volcanoes in central Scania.[48][49] Remnants of the volcanoes are still visible today.[48] Parallel with volcanism a hilly peneplain formed in northeastern Scania due to weathering and erosion of basement rocks.[50][51] The kaolinite formed by this weathering can be observed at Ivö Klack.[51] In the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous a sea level rise led to the complete drowning of Scania. Subsequently, marine sediments buried old surfaces preserving the rocky shores and hilly terrain of the day.[51][52]

In the Paleogene period southern Sweden was at a lower position relative to sea level but was likely still above it as it was covered by sediments.[45][50] Rivers flowing over the South Småland peneplain flowed also across Scania which was at the time covered by thick sediments.[45] As the relative sea level sank and much of Scania lost its sedimentary cover antecedent rivers begun to incise the Söderåsen horst forming valleys.[45] During deglaciation these valleys likely evacuated large amounts of melt-water.[45] The relief of Scania's south-western landscape was formed by the accumulation of thick Quaternary sediments during the Quaternary glaciations.[47]

Vegetation and vegetation zones

The vast majority of Scania belongs to the European hardwood vegetation zone, a considerable part of which is now agricultural rather than the original forest. This zone covers Europe west of

cloudberry (in the north-east), blueberry, wild strawberry and loganberry
.

National parks

Three of the 29

National parks of Sweden[53]
are situated in Scania.

Extremes

Population

Map of the 33 municipalities of Scania. The western, yellow coloured municipalities, close to Øresund
, have much higher population densities than the eastern ones

Scania is divided into 33 municipalities with population and land surface as the table below shows. There is a large population difference between the western Scania, that is located by, or close to Øresund sea compared to the middle and eastern parts of the province.

Population of Scania by municipality[58]
Municipality Population (April 2013) Land area (km2) Population density (/km2)
Municipalities that have a coast on Øresund or border a municipality that does (in yellow on the map)
Bjuv 14,813 115.3 128.5
Burlöv 17,079 18.9 903.7
Eslöv 31,761 419.1 75.8
Helsingborg 132,254 344.0 384.4
Höganäs 24,986 150.8 165.7
Kävlinge 29,513 152.6 193.4
Landskrona 42,751 148.3 288.3
Lomma 22,415 55.6 403.1
Lund 118,542 448.5 264.3
Malmö 328,494 166,3 1975.2
Staffanstorp 22,572 106.8 211.3
Svalöv 13,217 387.3 34.1
Svedala 20,039 218.1 91.9
Trelleborg 42,744 339.9 125.8
Vellinge 33,725 142.6 236.5
Åstorp 14,849 92.2 161.0
Ängelholm 39,836 420.1 95.1
Other municipalities (in white)
Bromölla 12,314 162.5 74.4
Båstad * 14,224 209.8 67.8
Hässleholm 50,171 1268.5 39.6
Hörby 14,882 419.4 35.5
Höör 15,591 290.9 53.6
Klippan 16,741 374.3 44.7
Kristianstad 80,854 1246.3 64.9
Osby 12,704 576.2 22.0
Perstorp 7,089 158.8 44.6
Simrishamn 18,950 391.4 48.4
Sjöbo 18,359 492.2 37.3
Skurup 14,997 193.6 77.5
Tomelilla 12,913 395.9 32.6
Ystad 28,562 350.1 81.6
Örkelljunga 9,640 319.6 30.1
Östra Göinge 13,609 432.0 31.5

* A small part of Båstad municipality is located within the neighbouring province of Halland, this includes the village Östra Karup and some area around it, around 500 people live in Båstad municipality, but beyond the historical boundaries of the Scanian province.

  • The western part of Scania (yellow on the map and close to the Øresund sea) covers 3201.3 km2 of land, and had (in April 2013) 925,982 inhabitants, almost 290 inhabitants/km2
  • The other municipalities cover 7281.3 km2of land, and had at the same time only 341,009 inhabitants or 47 inhabitants/km2
  • The same figures for the entire province are 10482.6 km2, 1,266,991 inhabitants and 121 inhabitants/km2

These figures can be compared with around to 21 inhabitants per km2 for entire Sweden.

Population around Øresund

Western Scania has a high population density, not only by Scandinavian standards but also by average European standards, at close to 300 inhabitants per square kilometre. But the

Region Hovedstaden without the Baltic island of Bornholm) has a population density of 878 inhabitants/km2, most of Greater Copenhagen
included.

By adding the population of western Scania to the same of Metropolitan area of Copenhagen, then close to 3 million people live around the Øresund sea, within a maximum distance from Øresund of 25 to 30 kilometres, at a land surface of approx. 6100 km2 (approx 460 inhabitants/km2). This is in many ways a better measurement of describing the area around Øresund than what the far wider Øresund Region constitutes, as the latter includes also eastern Scania (whose beaches are Baltic Sea ones and is far less populated) as well as all Denmark east of the Great Belt.

Regardless of counting a smaller area with higher population density or a larger one, the Øresund Strait is located in the largest metropolitan area in Scandinavia with Finland.

Cities

Neo-Gothic style, sometimes known in Swedish as Eslöv Gothic.[59]
See also: List of towns in Skåne, Sweden and Urban areas in Sweden
The Øresund Bridge
The Annehem neighborhood in Lund

In

town rights: Lund (since approximately 990), Helsingborg (1085), Falsterbo (approximately 1200), Ystad (approximately 1200), Skanör (approximately 1200), Malmö (approximately 1250), Simrishamn (approximately 1300), Landskrona (1413), and Kristianstad (1622). Others had existed earlier, but lost their privileges. Ängelholm got new privileges in 1767, and in 1754, Falsterbo and Skanör were merged. The concept of municipalities was introduced in Sweden in 1863, making each of the towns a city municipality of its own. In the 19th and 20th centuries, four more municipalities were granted city status, Trelleborg (1867), Eslöv (1911), Hässleholm (1914) and Höganäs
(1936). The system of city status was abolished in 1971.

Over 90% of Scania's population live in

urban areas.[60] In 2000, the Øresund Bridge – the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe – linked Malmö and Copenhagen, making Scania's population part of a 3.6 million total population in the Øresund Region. In 2005, the region had 9,200 commuters crossing the bridge daily, the vast majority of them from Malmö to Copenhagen.[61]

The following

localities had more than 10,000 inhabitants[62]
(year 2010).

  1. Malmö, 280,415*
  2. Helsingborg, 97,122
  3. Lund, 82,800
  4. Kristianstad, 35,711
  5. Landskrona, 30,499
  6. Trelleborg, 28,290
  7. Ängelholm, 23,240
  8. Hässleholm, 18,500
  9. Ystad, 18,350
  10. Eslöv, 17,748
  11. Staffanstorp, 14,808
  12. Höganäs, 14,107
  13. Kävlinge & Furulund, 13,200

Population development

The Turning Torso in Malmö, the tallest building in Sweden.[63]

It has been estimated that around 1570, Scania had about 110,000 inhabitants.[64] But before the plague in the middle of the 14th century the population of all Danish territory east of Øresund (Scania, Island of Bornholm, Blekinge and Halland) may have exceeded 250,000.

The figures here are from two different sources.[65][66]

Year Population Year Population Year Population
1620 126,000 1820 312,000 1930 757,000
1699 142,000 1830 350,000 1940 778,000
1718 152,000 1840 388,000 1950 843,000
1735 180,000 1850 443,000 1960 882,000
1750 197,000 1860 494,000 1970 983,000
1760 202,000 1870 538,000 1980 1,023,000
1772 216,000 1880 580,000 1990 1,068,000
1780 231,000 1890 591,000 2000 1,129,000
1795 250,000 1900 628,000 2010 1,228,000
1800 259,000 1910 685,000 2015 1,303,600
1810 275,000 1920 728,000 2016 1,322,200

Hundreds

See also: List of hundreds of Sweden

Scania was formerly divided into 23

hundreds
.

Climate and seasons

Location of some SMHI temperature stations in Scania

Scania has the mildest climate in Sweden, but there are some local differences.

The table shows average temperatures in degrees Celsius at ten Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) weather stations in Scania and three stations further north for comparison issues. Average temperature in this case means the average of the temperature taken throughout both day and night unlike the more usual daily maximum or minimum average. This is done for specific measured periods of thirty years. The last period began at 1 January 1961 and ended at 31 December 1990. The current such period started at 1 January 1991 and will end by 31 December 2020. At that time it will be possible to with a high degree of mathematical certainty to measure possible climate changes, by comparing two separate periods of 30 years with each other.

st.no Station Approx Latitude Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
5320 Smygehuk 55 −0.1 −0.3 1.4 4.6 9.4 14.0 15.6 15.7 12.9 9.4 5.2 1.7 7.5
5223 Falsterbo 55 0.3 0.0 1.7 5.1 10.1 14.7 16.4 16.4 13.7 10.0 5.7 2.3 8.0
5337 Malmö 2 55.5 0.1 0.0 2.2 6.4 11.6 15.8 17.1 16.8 13.6 9.8 5.3 1.9 8.4
5433 Simrishamn 55.5 −0.1 −0.3 1.7 4.9 9.5 14.6 16.3 16.1 13.1 9.2 4.9 1.6 7.6
5251 Örja 55.5 0.0 0.0 2.2 6.1 11.5 15.3 16.5 16.7 13.5 9.4 5.2 2.2 8.2
6203 Helsingborg 56 0.6 −0.1 2.0 6.0 11.2 15.3 16.7 16.6 13.6 9.9 5.2 1.8 8.3
5343 Lund 55.5 −0.6 −0.5 2.0 6.0 11.5 15.4 16.8 16.5 13.1 9.1 4.5 1.1 7.9
5353 Hörby 55.5 −1.6 −1.5 1.0 5.4 10.4 14.4 15.5 15.3 11.9 8.0 3.6 0.1 6.9
5455 Kristianstad 55.5 −1.0 −1.0 1.4 5.2 10.3 14.7 16.1 15.7 12.3 8.5 4.0 0.6 7.2
6322 Osby 56 −2.2 −2.1 0.6 5.0 10.5 14.4 15.5 14.9 11.3 7.4 2.8 −0.7 6.5
For comparison, some northern locations within Sweden
9749
Stockholm Arlanda
 60 −4.4 −4.6 -1.0 4.0 10.2 14.9 16.3 15.2 10.8 6.4 1.2 -2.9 5.5
12731 Sundsvall 62.5 −9.0 −7.9 −3.1 2.0 7.8 13.4 15.3 14.0 9.4 4.5 −2.0 −6.7 3.1
16268 Luleå 66 −11.5 −10.7 −6.0 0.1 6.4 13.0 15.5 13.6 8.3 3.0 −4.0 −9.0 1.6

[67] All three of the northern locations are at low altitude and fairly close to the Baltic Sea.

Compared with locations further north, the Scanian climate differs primary by being far less cold during the winter and in having longer springs and autumns. While the July temperatures doesn't differ much (see table above).

The highest temperature ever recorded in the province is 36.0 °C (97 °F) (Ängelholm, 30 July 1947) and the lowest ever recorded is −34 °C (−29 °F) (Stehag, 26 January 1942) Temperatures below −15 °C (5 °F) are relatively rare even at night, while summer temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) occurs once in a while every summer. Precipitation is spread fairly evenly, both across the province and during the year.

Slightly more precipitation falls during July and August than during the other months.

Winter

A typical winter, with average temperatures around the freezing point during January and February, means that a period of mild weather (often windy or/and rainy) is followed by a colder period (when precipitation falls as snow)—and then the mild weather returns etc., rather than a stable temperature close to zero degrees. During the colder periods, the temperature often is below freezing point also during daytime while during the milder periods temperatures below freezing point are unusual even at night. During the mild periods temperatures slightly below freezing point only occur if the night is both calm and free of clouds. If the same circumstances occur during a cold period, the nights can get very cold though. All together this adds up to a 24 hrs/day "winter average" of around 0 degrees In the north-eastern corner (and at the top of the ridges) the winter is in general notably colder though, and a snow cover may last for weeks.

Spring

March is locally known as the first month of the spring. The colder periods are fewer and sunny days may even feel pleasant. During April and early May temperature rises rather fast. Though spring (especially in the sense "first heat") arrives later compared to northernmost Germany and Poland. This is particularly notable in the south-eastern corner. This is explained by the open coastline and low temperatures in the

Baltic sea. Øresund is both narrow and shallow, and gets warmer faster. The most common Scanian tree, the beech
, usually comes into leaf during the last days of April or the first days of May, but is often delayed by 10–14 days in the south-east, due to the Baltic Sea chill factor.

Summer

Unlike the other seasons, summer is not warmer in Scania compared to many other Swedish provinces. As in winter, the weather usually changes between periods that either are sunny and fairly hot (up to 30 degrees, even higher away from the coastlines), and periods of unstable cloudy and cooler weather. The time between sunset and sunrise during June and earliest July is less than 7 hours, and both the dawn and the dusk are rather long as well. However, there are still a few hours of real night. Further north in Sweden there is no real night, as dusk turns into dawn. (In northernmost Sweden, the sun does not set at all for around two months.)

Autumn

The autumn in Scania is a slow process, compared with more northern parts of Sweden (but a faster one, when comparing with any part of the British Isles). During the first half of September, temperatures usually are not so much affected, but the sunset is obviously earlier compared with in June. Temperatures drop in steps. Every new period with sunny weather becomes a bit cooler than the last one. By the end of October the defoliation process becomes evident. But not until late November have all the trees lost their leaves. The period when storms and even hurricanes becomes most likely to occur is between November and February. Most hurricanes come from the Atlantic Ocean and don't involve snow or temperatures below freezing point. Late Scanian autumn is in general benefited from the surrounding waters (the opposite effect early spring).

Culture

Traditional half-timbered farm house of the southern plains in Scania.

Scania's long-running and sometimes intense trade relations with other communities along the coast of the European continent through history have made the culture of Scania distinct from other geographical regions of Sweden. Its open landscape, often described as a colourful patchwork quilt of wheat and rapeseed fields, and the relatively mild climate at the southern tip of the Scandinavian Peninsula, have inspired many Swedish artists and authors to compare it to European regions like Provence in southern France and Zeeland in the Netherlands.[68] Among the many authors who have described the "foreign" continental elements of the Scanian landscape, diet and customs are August Strindberg and Carl Linnaeus. In 1893 August Strindberg wrote about Scania: "In beautiful, large wave lines, the fields undulate down toward the lake; a small deciduous forest limits the coastline, which is given the inviting look of the Riviera, where people shall walk in the sun, protected from the north wind. [...] The Swede leaves the plains with a certain sense of comfort, because its beauty is foreign to him." In another chapter he states: "The Swedes have a history that is not the history of the South Scandinavians. It must be just as foreign as Vasa’s history is to the Scanian."[69]

In Ystad, singer-songwriter Michael Saxell's popular Scanian anthem Om himlen och Österlen (Of Heaven and Österlen), the flat, rolling hill landscape is described as appearing to be a little closer to heaven and the big, unending sky.

Scania's historical connection to Denmark, the vast fertile plains, the deciduous forests and the relatively mild climate make the province culturally and physically distinct from the emblematic Swedish cultural landscape of forests and small hamlets.[70]

Architecture

See also:
List of castles in Scania
The house of magistrate Jacob Hansen in Helsingborg
, built in 1641.
The Old Church of Södra Åsum in Sjöbo Municipality
— a typical example of a medieval Danish Scanian church.

Traditional Scanian architecture is shaped by the limited availability of wood; it incorporates different applications of the building technique called

Elsinore (Helsingør). Among Ystad's half-timbered houses is the oldest such building in Scandinavia, Pilgrändshuset from 1480.[74]

In

Östra Göinge. According to the local legend, the farmer saved the farm in the first raid of 1612 by setting a forest fire in front of it, making the Swedish troops believe that the farm had already been plundered and set ablaze.[77]

A number of Scanian towns flourished during the Viking Age. The city of Lund is believed to have been founded by the Viking-king Sweyn Forkbeard.[78] Scanian craftsmen and traders were prospering during this era and Denmark's first and largest mint was established in Lund. The first Scanian coins have been dated to 870 AD.[79] The archaeological excavations performed in the city indicate that the oldest known stave church in Scania was built by Sweyn Forkbeard in Lund in 990.[80] In 1103, Lund was made the archbishopric for all of Scandinavia.[81]

Many of the old churches in today's Scanian landscape stem from the

crow-stepped gables
and sturdy church porches, usually made of stone.

The first version of

Helgo Zetterwall
.

Lund skyline, with the Cathedral towers.

Scania also has churches built in the

Dalby
. It is the oldest stone church in Sweden, built around the same time as Lund cathedral. After the Lund Cathedral was built, many of the involved workers travelled around the province and used their acquired skills to make baptism fonts, paintings and decorations, and naturally architectural constructions.

Vittskövle Castle
.

Scania has 240 palaces and country estates—more than any other province in Sweden.[82] Many of them received their current shape during the 16th century, when new or remodelled castles started to appear in greater numbers, often erected by the reuse of stones and material from the original 11th–15th-century castles and abbeys found at the estates. Between 1840 and 1900, the landed nobility in Scania built and rebuilt many of the castles again, often by modernizing previous buildings at the same location in a style that became typical for Scania. The style is a mixture of different architectural influences of the era, but frequently refers back to the style of the 16th-century castles of the Reformation era, a time when the large estates of the Catholic Church were made Crown property and the abbeys bartered or sold to members of the aristocracy by the Danish king.[83] For many of the 19th century remodels, Danish architects were called in. According to some scholars, the driving force behind the use of historical Scanian architecture, as interpreted by 19th century Danish architects using Dutch Renaissance style, was a wish to refer back to an earlier era when the aristocracy had special privileges and political power in relation to the Danish king.[84]

Language, literature, and art

See also:
Scanian dialects

Uvular trill, as opposed to the supradental /r/-sound characteristic of spoken Standard Swedish. They are very similar to the dialect of Danish spoken in Bornholm, Denmark. The prosody of the Scanian dialects has more in common with German, Danish and Dutch (and sometimes also with English, although to a lesser extent) than with the prosody of central Swedish dialects.[85]

Famous Scanian authors include

Hans Alfredsson (1931–2017) and Jacques Werup (1945–2016), both from Malmö. Birgitta Trotzig (1929–2011) from Gothenburg has written several historic novels set in Scania, such as The Exposed of 1957, which describes life in 17th century Scania with a primitive country priest as its main character and the 1961 novel A Tale from the Coast, which recounts a legend about human suffering and is set in Scania in the 15th century. Gabriel Jönsson
(1892–1984) from Ålabodarna, Landskrona.

A printing-house was established in the city of Malmö in 1528. It became instrumental in the propagation of new ideas and during the 16th century, Malmö became the center for the Danish reformation.[87]

Traditional Scanian nuptial array according to Auguste Racinet
, in Le costume historique.

Scanian culture, as expressed through the medium of textile art, has received international attention during the last decade.[88] The art form, often referred to as Scanian Marriage Weavings, flourished from 1750 for a period of 100 years, after which it slowly vanished. Consisting of small textile panels mainly created for wedding ceremonies, the art is strongly symbolic, often expressing ideas about fertility, longevity and a sense of hope and joy.[89] The Scanian artists were female weavers working at home, who had learned to weave at a young age, often in order to have a marriage chest filled with beautiful tapestries as a dowry.[90]

According to international collectors and art scholars, the Scanian patterns are of special interest for the striking similarities with

bäckahästar), with horns on their foreheads and misty clouds from their nostrils.[90] The horse motif has been traced to patterns on 4th- and 5th-century Egyptian fabrics, but in Scanian art it is transformed to illustrate the Norse river horse of Scanian folklore.[91]

Dukes

Main article:
Dukes of Swedish Provinces

The title of duke was reintroduced in Sweden in 1772 and since this time, Swedish princes have been created dukes of various provinces, although the titles are purely nominal.

The Dukes of Scania have been:

From his marriage, in 1905, King Gustaf VI Adolf had his summer residence at Sofiero Palace in Helsingborg. He and his family spent their summers there, and the cabinet meetings held there during the summer months forced the ministers to arrive by night train from Stockholm. He died at Helsingborg Hospital in 1973.

Sports

Football has always been the most popular arena and team sport within the province, from attendances not least[citation needed]. Clubs are administered by Skånes Fotbollförbund
.

Helsingborg IF 7 times and was one of the twelve clubs in the league's very first season, 1924/25. Also Landskrona BoIS was among the twelve original clubs, but has never won. These three clubs are historically the most famous football clubs in Scania. But also IFK Malmö, Stattena IF, Råå IF (the latter two clubs are both from Helsingborg) as well as Trelleborgs FF
have participated.

Handball is also a relatively popular team sport, whilst Basketball never really has gained much interest.

Ice hockey was for a long time thought of as a sport of northern Sweden, but has nevertheless became a popular attendance sport too. Malmö Redhawks has even become Swedish Champions twice, but also Rögle BK (from Ängelholm) have participated at the highest level of Swedish ice hockey during quite a lot of seasons.

Skåne Crusaders who play in the Sweden Rugby League
.

The overwhelmingly largest sport related events in both Scanian as well as Swedish history, were however the motorcycle Saxtorp TT-races during the 1930s, which most of the years gathered crowds of 150.000 or more.[citation needed]

Tennis is associated with Båstad during the Swedish Open.

Golf is the most popular sport to exercise after a certain age, at least. Scania has a large amount of golf courses, of which Barsebäck Golf & Country Club is the most well-known. Most Golf courses are open also during the winter, but may sometimes close temporarily in cases of snowy periods.[citation needed]

See also

Citations

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General references

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Scania.

Official links

Organizations