Uppsala

Uppsala (ŭp`sələ, –sä'lä), city (1990 pop. 109,500), capital of Uppsala co., E Sweden, on the Fyrisån River. It is an industrial and cultural center and a railroad junction. Manufactures include machinery, printed materials, processed food, clothing, pharmaceuticals, and footwear. The city developed near Gamla Uppsala, now a small village, which became the pagan capital of Sweden in the 6th cent. An archiepiscopal see was established at present-day Uppsala in 1270, and the cathedral of Uppsala (13th cent.), the finest Gothic church in Sweden, became the usual coronation place of Swedish kings and is the burial place of Gustavus I, the botanist Linnaeus, the scientist and religious teacher Swedenborg, and UN Secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld. The Univ. of Uppsala, founded in 1477, is the oldest university of N Europe. Other institutions in Uppsala include the Royal Society of Sciences, the Gustav Werners institute of high-energy physics and radiation biology, the Victoria Museum, and the Linnaeus garden and museum.

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Uppsala

City (pop., 2001 est.: 191,110), Sweden. Located north of Stockholm, it lies near a village which was originally the capital of the ancient pre-Christian kingdom of Svea. By the 13th century it was an important commercial centre. Relinquishing its political primacy to Stockholm, it remained the seat of the archbishop of Sweden; its Gothic cathedral (erected from the 13th–15th centuries) is Sweden's largest. It is also an educational centre, the site of Sweden's oldest university, Uppsala University (founded 1477). It is now an industrial city and transportation hub. Carolus Linnaeus lived there.

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Uppsala, Upsala

a city in E central Sweden: the royal headquarters in the 13th century; Gothic cathedral (the largest in Sweden) and Sweden's oldest university (1477). Pop.: 182 124 (2004 est.)

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Uppsala 

a city in Sweden. Capital of the län (county) of Uppsala. Population, 136,000 (1974). Uppsala is an important industrial and cultural center. Its industries include machine building, printing, ceramics, and food processing. The University of Uppsala, founded in 1477, is the oldest university in Sweden. Uppsala also has a museum devoted to C. Linnaeus, who lived and is buried in the city.

Originally called Östra Aros, Uppsala existed as a settlement as early as the 12th century. In 1273 it became the residence of the archbishop. The city has been known as Uppsala since 1280. Until 1719 the most important state assemblies were held at Uppsala, and the Swedish kings were crowned in the city. From the 14th to the 18th century, the city was a center for domestic trade and the site of national trade fairs. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Uppsala was a stronghold of Sweden’s conservatives.

Uppsala has preserved some of its medieval layout. The city’s architectural landmarks include the largest Gothic cathedral in Scandinavia (1260–1435), the Romanesque church called the Bondkyrka (12th century), a castle (begun in 1540, architect F. Parr), the baroque Gustavianum (1620; until the 19th century the central building of the university, now a museum), and buildings in the Empire style, such as the university library (1819–26) architect C. F. Sundvall).

To the north of Uppsala lies the old town, Gamla Uppsala, which was a center of pagan worship during the first millennium A.D. At Gamla Uppsala there survive numerous barrows, as well as portions of Sweden’s most ancient cathedral (c. 1100), which were incorporated into a church built in the 13th century. Near Gamla Uppsala is an open-air museum caled the Disågarden, which is devoted to architecture.

REFERENCE

Liljeroth, E., and T. Brunius. Ett bildverk om Uppsala. Malmö, 1954.