ABOUT UMEÅ

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This is Umeå

Umeå was founded in 1622 by king Gustav II Adolf. The city got its name from the Sami word Ume, which means "the noisy river". Just 37 people were registered as residents in the city in 1639. Today Umeå has 103 000 residents. Extensive surveys conducted by some influential Swedish newspapers have shown that Umeå is the best place in Sweden to live, work and study in. And when they compare Swedish municipalities by assessing a range of factors, Umeå gets top ratings. This positive development can largely be attributed to those who have moved to Umeå. The fact is that between 5000 - 6500 persons move to Umeå each year and, of Umeå's 103,000 inhabitants, 55% are people who have moved into the area. Around 50 000 of Umeå's inhabitants are from other regions of Sweden and about 7000 have their roots abroad.

It goes without saying that Umeå University's multi-faceted education and research resources are the primary reason for Umeå's appeal, and students are also drawn to the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and the College of Health and Caring Sciences. The University Hospital (NUS) is another driving force in Umeå's development. Not only does the hospital have specialist care and research units that are of a very high international standard, but it also serves as general hospital for the region, with a catchment of one million patients.

The average age of the city's inhabitants is 35.8 years old, which is much lower than the national average - no wonder the city is called Young Umeå! Apparently, Umeå has the sportiest students in Sweden. Both the municipality and university have vested a great deal in sport and leisure facilities and the sector as a whole.

On Midsummer´s day 1888, most of the town of Umeå was burnt to the ground. It was a hot, windy day and nothing was left except the prison. Further south in Sweden, Sundsvall suffered the same fate on the same day. Sundsvall was to be rebuilt in stone but in Umeå there were few who could afford to build a stone house. The city was rebuilt in timber, but designed to resemble the 19th century architectural style of stone houses. When new plans to rebuild the town center were drawn up, an important innovation in this time was the introduction of firebreaks in the form of broad streets and esplanades lined with birch trees. Umeå soon became known as the City of the Birches.

When it comes to entertainment and culture Umeå has a lot to offer. The annual international jazz festival has brought many of the biggest names in the world of jazz to Umeå. There are also festivals for chamber music, folk music and swing plus a film festival. There is a symphony orchestra and Norrland´s own opera company. There are choirs, theatre companies, cultural societies, galleries and a museum devoted to graphic image.

Norrland´s biggest city is also Norrland´s biggest tourist destination. Umeå has about three million visitors every year, most of them passing through in the summer time on their way to the North Cape. People visiting Umeå usually pay a visit to Gammlia, Umeå´s open-air museum where Västerbottens Museum also is situated. The museum has excellent permanent exhibitions for an insight into the history of the county. There is a museum of skiing where you can see everything from the oldest ski in the world to the equipment used by Sweden´s modern skiing heroes, an art gallery and a museum of fishing. The first tourists reached here five thousand years ago, members of a hunter-gatherer culture. Like modern tourists they are certain to have enjoyed salmon from the mighty River Ume. Their postcards are still here, addressed to travelers down the ages: carvings in stone beside the rapids. Visitors can find out all about the prehistoric carvings or about other destinations like the first hydroelectric station on the river at Klabböle, or its giant latter-day counterpart at Stornorrfors, at the Tourist Bureau.

You can find more information at the home page of Umeå

We hope that you will enjoy your stay in Umeå! Welcome!

Map of Umeå