Aq-Va-Kul is a swimming complex in western Malmö

Malmö

Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...

 city, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 owned by Malmö Municipality

Malmö Municipality

Malmö Municipality is a municipality in Skåne County in Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Malmö.When the first Swedish local government acts were implemented in 1863 the old City of Malmö was made one of the country's 88 city municipalities and the first city council was elected...

. It was built in 1956 as Simhallsbadet with a 25 m pool. In 1977 a 50 m pool was built and in 1988 a water park

Water park

A waterpark is an amusement park that features waterplay areas, such as water slides, splash pads, spraygrounds , lazy rivers, or other recreational bathing, swimming, and barefooting environments...

 was added. There are also a Turkish bath and a relax division. The facility has 600,000 visitors yearly.

The name Aq-Va-Kul is a word play on the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 word for water, aqua, and the Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

 phrase Ack, vad kul (en

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

: Oh!, how fun)

The swimming complex was closed non-permanently on March 14 2007, because of bad maintenance but has re-opened on October 1, 2008.

Aq-Va-Kul has been the arena for seven Swedish Short Course Swimming Championships

Swedish Short Course Swimming Championships

The Swedish Short Course Swimming Championships are annually in late November in an indoor 25m pool. The championships sometimes also works as trials for the World Championships and European Short Course Swimming Championships. Swimmers representing Swedish swim teams may participate...

 (last time in 2003), four Swedish Junior's Swimming Championships (last time in 2002), four Swedish Youth Short Course Swimming Championships finals (last time in 2006), and several meets in the FINA Swimming World Cup

FINA Swimming World Cup

The FINA Swimming World Cup is an international series of short course swimming meets organized by FINA, the International Federation for swimming...

 series in the 1990s.

The current European record

European records in swimming

The European records in swimming are the fastest times ever swum by a swimmer representing a member federation of the Ligue Européenne de Natation , Europe's governing body of swimming....

 on men's 800 m freestyle was set in the 25 m pool in January 1997 by German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Jörg Hoffman with the time of 7:36.24.

External links

• Vattenpalatset Aq-va-kul