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The 18th Century
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The State of the Towns - Landskrona

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King Fredrik I allowed the new town plan of Landskrona in 1749. A town plan, whose starting point was a new military fortification. This involved the demolition of a church, which was almost as big as the impressive cathedral in Lund. However, the total vision was never realized – for financial reasons.

The Towns - Landskrona
Not only the Scanian country had fallen behind in the development. It was also the case with the Scanian towns. You get a hint of the mutual importance of the towns as market towns, because Linné mentions the number of citizens (grocers) in every town. Malmo had 350, Lund196, Landskrona 150, Helsingborg 130 and Ängelholm 70-80. In the 1750´s Malmo was the only town, that Linné considered important.

The Development of Landskrona
In Landskrona Linné admired the big and beautiful church, “which should be reduced in favour of the new fortification”. At this time they had renewed the idea of further development of Landskrona. Linné described this endeavour in his Journey in Scania:
“...now stone streets are built into the ocean on the southern and western side. Between these the neighbourhoods are to be filled and the town founded, so the ships can moor along the houses in a safe harbour. This is a works, which is Herculian and which other kings and potentates cannot imitate.”
The New Town Plan of Landskrona
The New Town Plan of Landskrona
The Fortification of Landskrona
The Fortification of Landskrona
The Mayor´s House in Landskrona
The Mayor´s House in Landskrona

A New City Plan
In 1747 the Swedish parliament had decided that the town again was to be fortified with a new, strong citadel in the little island Gråen outside Landskrona. From this island a fortification was to protect the harbour and the new town, which was to be built south of the old. In 1749 Frederik I had approved of the new town plan, which then had a rectangular shape.
The castle architect Carl Hårleman from Stockholm left his stamp on the buildings.
As great parts of the town was build outside the beach line a system of channels were to drain the area. The channels were built after a Dutch model, when a street was laid out between the houses and the channel, like Nyhavn in Copenhagen.

The New Church
Hårleman was also the man behind the new church, which was started in 1754, but was not opened until 1788. The church was named Sofia Albertina after Gustav III´s sister.
The old Gothic church, which was almost as big as Lund´s cathedral, was demolished. It was felt that the church was too close to the old fortress, and it was feared that an enemy could occupy the church and from there fire at the fortress. Furthermore the church was dilapidated and contained a lot of building material, which could be used for other projects. Both strategic and economical reasons lay behind the demolition of one of the most magnificent churches in The North.
The Old Church in Landskrona
The Old Church in Landskrona
The New Church in Landskrona
The New Church in Landskrona
The New Church in Landskrona
The New Church in Landskrona

A Half Completed Town
The work on the new Landskrona made slow progress and simultaneously became too expensive. When Sweden´s finances became scarce during the war against Russia in 1788, the project was closed down and the new town was only half completed. In spite of this Landskrona had a typical 18th century mark and today there are many buildings from the time, when they tried to create a modern town in the spirit of the time.

©  Øresundstid 2009