Ljungby

History

The first known inhabitant of the area that is today's Ljungby was Astrad, as can be read on the runestone Replösastenen from the 11th century located a couple of kilometers from the city centre. The runestone says: "Götrad made this stone after Astrad, the foremost of kinsmen and yeomen (odalmän) who in Finnveden formerly lived". In 1952 a statue by John Lundqvist was erected near the main plaza depicting Astrad and Götrad. But there were other people living around Ljungby long before Astrad and Götrad as evident by the numerous burial mounds in the area. One of the largest burial mounds lies close to the water tower and is named Kungshögen. The largest burial is however Höga rör that lies some kilometers south of Ljungby on the slope of the Lagan river valley.

In the 12th century the first stone church was built with the formation of the parish Ljungby socken. Ljungby had for a long time been the crossroad where the two important north-south and east-west trade routes met. Because of this a hostelry was built adjacent to the Laganstigen in the 14th century by royal decree.

In 1828 Ljungby only consisted by five farms. It was in the beginning of the 19th century the need for a city in Sunnerbo hundred was raised. Ljungby competed with the village Berga, where bishop Henrik had obtained permission to found a city. As Ljungby was considered to be located more central in the hundred and had better road connections, the choice fell on the latter option.

According to a royal letter from October 15, 1828 Ljungby was made a friköping with regulations on March 28, 1829 according to three sources, and on January 1, 1830 according to another. Ljungby was founded mostly on property that was donated by Märta Ljungberg, operator of Ljungby's hostelry. A town plan with perpendicular roads was used as base when the town's buildings was planned. The city plan would later be split with the arrival of the railroad. In 1878 the railroad between Vislanda and Bolmen, via Ljungby, was opened. The railroad would later be linked with Karlshamn–Vislanda–Bolmens railroad (KVBJ) and Halmstad–Bolmen Railroad (HBJ). In 1899 the north-south stretch Skåne–Smålands Railroad (SSJ) was opened.

During the 20th century the town expanded with the help of the workshop and wood industry.

The first population boom started at the end of the 1940s and culminated in the 1960s. Luckily this coincided with the increased need of work by the growing industry in the urban area with the need of work decreasing in the rural areas. The growth was also supported by the labor immigration that began in the post-war period. Much of the town centre was destroyed in a fire in 1953. The (at the time) modern style of the rebuilding characterized by e.g. Hotel Terraza remains controversial locally.

Administration

Ljungby became a friköping (or chipping in English) October 15, 1828, with the regulations decided on March 28, 1829. On January 31, 1879 Ljungby chipping's rules and regulations, building bylaws, and the fire charter was issued. On February 10, 1893, it was decided that the health care charter would also apply in the chipping. 1900 the concept municipalsamhälle was introduced into Sweden's legislation and Ljungby chipping was transformed into Ljungby köping municipalsamhälle. This was due to the fact that at least one of the town's charters was applied to the area and didn't belong to a stadskommun (approx. town municipality) or köpingskommun (approx. chipping municipality). On July 3, 1902 a special arrangement Charter was issued for Ljungby köping municipalsamhälle. On October 7, 1921 the area of Ljungby municipalsamhälle was increased from 0.98 km² (0.37 mi²) to 3.50 km² (1.35 mi²).

Ljungby was, and is, the "church village" of Ljungby parish and belonged to Ljungby rural municipality after 1862 Swedish municipal reform. On January 1, 1936 Ljungby parish and rural municipality was reformed into Ljungby stad. This was in accordance to a decision made on September 20, 1935 that gave ljungby the title "stad" (English: town or city). With 1971 Swedish municipal reforms Ljungby stad and the rural municipality was ascended into Ljungby municipality with Ljungby being the central locality.

Communication

Ljungby has good road connections as it lies where the E4 and national road 25 intersects. The town is also pierced by the scenic route Riksettan.

Ljungby have a small airport, Ljungby-Feringe airport, without regular services about 13 kilometers to the northeast. The airport is owned by Feringe Flygklubb and is mostly used by sports planes, gliders, and parachutists. Closest airport with passenger traffic is Växjö Småland Airport.

There have earlier been railroad connections in four directions with narrow-gauge railway towards Halmstad and Vislanda, and standard gauge towards Värnamo and Markaryd. These lines are now defunct and the tracks have been removed.

Most of the railway embankments have instead been converted into bicycle paths. The northerly embankment connects Ljungby and Lagan with a 10 kilometer asphalted bicycle path where it connects with the bicycle route Sverigeleden. The west-eastern embankment is part of the 250 kilometer long bike trail Banvallsleden.

Business and education

Among the industries in Ljungby there are Svetruck, Electrolux Laundry Systems, Strålfors, Ljungby Maskin, CTC Enertech, HP Tronic and LL-Skogsmaskiner. Ljungby is also home to the daily local paper Smålänningen have their head office and editorial office. There are also several smaller and niche companies located in Ljungby.

Gymnasium

There are two gymnasiums in Ljungby municipality; Sunnerbogymnasiet and Ryssbygymnasiet.

Sunnerbogymnasiet is the largest with about 1'300 students and offers education in Social Science, Natural Science, Engineering, Construction, Aesthetics, Handicraft, and Business and Administration.

Ryssbygymnasiet lies about 30 kilometers outside Ljungby in the small village Ryssby. It offers education in Hotel, restaurant and catering, Hunting and wildlife management, Nature and adventure tourism, and Forestry.

College

Since 2002 there is a small college in Ljungby, Centre for Information Logistic and Högskolecentrum Ljungby, in cooperation with Linnaeus University, Jönköping University, and Halmstad University. The college offers a variety of programs and courses in the three areas of information logistics, marketing and sales, and product development.

Culture

Ljungby have been the home of several different cultural personalities. Among others, the cinematographer Gunnar Fischer and the writers Folke Fridell, Lennart Williams, and Sölve Rydell.

The Ljungbergmuseet is since 2012 Kronoberg County's official museum of visual art. The museum's permanent exhibition feature Sven Ljungberg and Ann Margret Dahlquist-Ljungberg's artistic achievements. They do also have continuously special exhibitions with other major Swedish and Nordic artists.

The internationally renowned painter Erik Ortvad had his home during the second half of his life in Kvänjarp just outside Ljungby. The painter and sculptor Albert von Stockenström lived and died in Ljungby. Current painter Kenneth Sjöö live in Ljungby.

The Museum of Legends is a small museum dedicated to oral storytelling, fairy tales and folklore. The museum is run by the Storytelling Network Kronoberg who also arrange the yearly Ljungby Storytelling Festival.

Ljungby församling

Ljungby assembly belongs to Ljungby parish in the diocese of Växjö. The congregation was formed in the Middle Ages with their first stone church being built in the 12th century. Ljungby assembly's current church, Ljungby Church, was built between 1858–1859 and inaugurated on September 8, 1861, by bishop Henrik Gustaf Hultman.

The newly built church had a bit of an austere interior, with the only inventory from the old demolished stone church being the middle aged baptismal font and the 18th century longcase clock. The church does however have a few recent artistic embellishments. One of the most eye-catching objects being the gilded altarpiece by Sven Ljungberg featuring Christ's way on via Dolorosa.

Ljungby Maria Församling

Ljungby Maria assembly belongs to Ljungby parish. The assembly was created when Ljungby assembly was split in 2002. The church Mariakyrkan was designed by architect Agneta Holmqvist and opened in 2001 to be the new assembly's main church.

Annelundkyrkan

Annelundkyrkan operates as the district church for Ljungby's Annelund district and as a funeral church as it is located at the Skogskyrkogården cemetery. The church was designed by county architect Hans Lindén and opened on July 2, 1972. The church is decorated by Åke Wremp and woodcarver Eva Spångberg. The church does also have a rich mural by Sven Ljungberg.

Other

Churches and communities that belongs to other religious communities:

Sport

The most well-known sports clubs of Ljungby are the ice hockey club IF Troja/Ljungby, the soccer club Ljungby IF, and the volleyball club Ljungby VBK

Famous people from Ljungby

Writers

Painters

Athletes

Climate

Ljungby has an oceanic climate in spite of its inland position. However it has significant temperature differences between seasons that in many ways resemble more continental types.