Trollhättan
Encyclopedia
Trollhättan is a city and the seat of Trollhättan Municipality
Trollhättan Municipality
Trollhättan Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Trollhättan....

, Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County is a county or län on the western coast of Sweden.The county is the second largest of Sweden's counties and it is subdivided into 49 municipalities . Its population of 1,550,000 amounts to 17% of Sweden's population...

, 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....

 with 44,498 inhabitants in 2005. It is located 75 km north of Sweden's second-largest city, Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

.

Recommended places to visit are NOHAB, The Falls of Trollhattan and the Sluice Channel.

History

Trollhättan was founded by the river Göta älv
Göta älv
The Göta is a river that drains lake Vänern into the Kattegat at the city of Gothenburg on the western coast of Sweden. It is located in Götaland, with the river itself being a site of early Geatish settlement. The length is 93 km. Often the combination of Göta älv and Klarälven is mentioned...

, at the location of Trollhättan Falls
Trollhättan Falls
Trollhättan Falls is a waterfall of Göta älv in Sweden. The falls starts at Malgö Bridge in central Trollhättan, and has a total height of 32 meters, making up a large part of the 44 meter total fall of the river from Vänern to Kattegat...

. The site was first mentioned in literature from 1413. For centuries, Trollhättan was an obstacle for the boats travelling the river, up until a lock system was completed in the nineteenth century. It has since been updated several times and the present locks were finished in 1916.

In the late nineteenth century, hydropower
Hydropower
Hydropower, hydraulic power, hydrokinetic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of falling water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower has been used for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as...

 was developed in Trollhättan. The Swedish energy corporation Vattenfall
Vattenfall
Vattenfall is a Swedish power company. The name Vattenfall is Swedish for waterfall, and is an abbreviation of its original name, Royal Waterfall Board...

 ("waterfall") took its name from the falls in Trollhättan. Today the city has two operational hydropower stations, Olidan
Olidan Power Station
Olidan Power Station is the name of a hydroelectric power station located in Trollhättan, Sweden. First opened in 1910, it was the first large scale attempt at generating electricity from water in Sweden...

 and Håjum
Hojum Power Station
Hojum Power Station is the second hydroelectric power station in Trollhättan, the first one being the older Olidan Power Station. While the first two turbines were taken into service in 1938, a third one was built and started in 1992...

. The hydropower has helped the city in its industrial revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

.

Trollhättan was granted city rights (which today have no legal effect, but is purely historical) in 1916 at which time it had about 15,000 inhabitants, now grown to 54,000.

Name

The name Trollhättan is translated as "Troll's bonnet". The latter part "hätta" could also mean mountain top.

Other former names of the site are Eiðar and Stora Edet; the latter lives on in the name of the south-bordering municipality of Lilla Edet
Lilla Edet
Lilla Edet is a locality and the seat of Lilla Edet Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 4,936 inhabitants in 2005.The town Lilla Edet is situated on the eastern side of the Göta älv, a main river on the west coast of Sweden. It became known as a halt there...

.

Industries

Trollhättan houses a number of industries, foremost the main production sites for Saab Automobile
Saab Automobile
Saab Automobile AB, better known as Saab , is a Swedish car manufacturer owned by Dutch automobile manufacturer Swedish Automobile NV, formerly Spyker Cars NV. It is the exclusive automobile Royal Warrant holder as appointed by the King of Sweden...

 and Volvo Aero
Volvo Aero
Volvo Aero, a subsidiary of Swedish company Volvo, develops and manufactures components for aircraft and rocket engines with high technology content in co-operation with the world’s leading engine manufacturers.-History:...

. In the area, there is also a large number of suppliers to these two facilities. Historically Trollhättan housed the NOHAB
NOHAB
NOHAB was a manufacturing company in the city of Trollhättan, Sweden.The company was founded by Antenor Nydqvist, Johan Magnus Lidström and Carl Olof Holm in 1847 as Trollhättans Mekaniska Verkstad as a manufacturer of turbines for hydraulic power plants...

 industries that produced locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

s, and Stridsberg & Biörk who had specialized in saw
Saw
A saw is a tool that uses a hard blade or wire with an abrasive edge to cut through softer materials. The cutting edge of a saw is either a serrated blade or an abrasive...

s for sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

s.

There is also a film production facility, known as Trollywood
Trollywood
Trollywood is the informal name for a film production facility in Trollhättan Municipality, Sweden. Movies shot there include Fucking Åmål, Dancer in the Dark and Dogville...

; movies shot there include Show Me Love (Fucking Åmål), Dancer in the Dark
Dancer in the Dark
Dancer in the Dark is a 2000 Danish musical drama film directed by Lars von Trier and starring Icelandic singer Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Cara Seymour, Peter Stormare, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, and Joel Grey...

and Dogville
Dogville
Dogville is a 2003 drama written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, and James Caan...

. The movie studio Film i Väst
Film i Väst
Film i Väst is a film company located in Trollhättan, Sweden, founded in 1992. Lars von Trier used its facilities in his movies, such as Dogville and Manderlay.-Walk of Fame:...

 centered here produces about half of the Swedish feature-length films.

Sports

The following sports clubs are located in Trollhättan:
  • IFK Trollhättan
    IFK Trollhättan
    IFK Trollhättan is a Swedish football club located in Trollhättan in Västra Götaland County.-Background:Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Trollhättan were founded on the 15th October 1920...

  • Skoftebyns IF
    Skoftebyns IF
    Skoftebyns IF is a Swedish football club located in Trollhättan in Västra Götaland County. -Background:Since their foundation Skoftebyns IF has participated in the middle and lower divisions of the Swedish football league system. The club currently plays in Division 2 Norra Götaland which is the...


External links

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