Kristianstad 400 and ALIVE!

Kristianstad celebrating!

Kristianstad is also for many Göinge people as the "city" where to go when daily businesses needs taken care of. The modern and vivid city centre with promenades, shops of all kinds and restaurants is very tempting. In addition the cultural life has much to offer and then there is the big shopping center at Vilan-Härlöv, the popular Vattenriket and much more that makes this part of Skåne come so much alive.

The city was founded by the Danish king Christian IV after his Swedish "colleague" Gustav II Adolf during the wars in Skåne had laid nearby city of Vä in ashes and seriously threatened Åhus.  It was possible to build a bastion in the area to become Kristianstad and get better protection against the enemy. Christian IV is considered as the greatest constructor in Nordic history. When planning to build an entirely new city in an previously inhabited area this was something unique in our nordic circumstances and architectural ideas in renaissance style, including the new bastion, was realized. The church in Kristianstad, Heliga Trefaldighetskyrkan, is said to be the grandest construction by Christian IV. After signing the peace treaty in Roskilde 1658 Kristianstad came under Swedish rule and the first times were not easy due to lack of confidence on both sides. Read more about all these times in the book by Kenth Olsson "400 år i Christians stad".

Caroleans in Kristianstad.

I am boring you with a few more historic details as I find the Swedish history most interesting. The Caroleans where soldiers in the times of the Swedish kings Charles XI and Charles XII that where very successful out in the combat field of the great Northern War that made Sweden a powerful nation. A small army had to find new innovative ways of fighting the enemy. The Caroleans applied a very offensive war tactic. Their courage took them head on with the enemy and close enough not to miss a single shot. As a result the enemy was frightened and could opt for retreating. Discipline was very hard and e.g. steeling and looting would lead to harsh punishments. Religion kept the morale high. Someone interrupting a moment of prayer could face the death penalty. Read more e.g. in Wikipedia.

Swedish Royalties in Kristianstad.

The 400th anniversary was celebrated with a massive program me for three days. King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia joined the celebrations on the first day with a full days program. We were in Tivoliparken 13.50 sharp like everybody else to get some pictures. The anniversary tree was planted and Mrs. T had the chance to use the very same shovel as the King had used while "Mr. Bond" was watching over things and the construction builders had their pictures from the first balcony. During the other day, on Saturday, more than 120 festive arrangements had been organized including a "Food From the World" happening that was in our taste, see below.

We picked Yemen and Syria out of all.

Yemen offered an interesting sallad with bulgur spiced with lemon, herbs and tomato. We also tried their spring rolls and hummus paste. Syria was offering a kebab dish and we had to do a fair bit of queueing before we had ours. As a dessert we choose ice tea flavored with elder and a small cake with almond paste and lemon curd. Very tasty indeed and todays cooking was done. In the picture above the police force may have opted for a visit to pölsemannen (sausage man) in the red trailer just to finish it off with a soft drink. This food market was a great idea.

Musical performances in Kristianstad.

Other activities included e.g. musical performances, (art) exhibitions, Lions Club Jubilée Train, historical demonstrations, (folk) dance, city walks, film presentations and much more. As a speciality a 400 meter long scarf had been woven and displayed near Helge å. One special event we missed and that was the Absolut Art Collection, but we will do that another time. It also happened that we were interviewed by Kristiansbladet and appeared the following day in a picture (Mrs. T putting something in my mouth) in the newspaper. 

Last but not least!

Children had arrived to the scene, too. Well dressed with their own crowns  WHERE ARE THEY? ARE THEY COMING? WHOOOO?

THE KING AND THE QUEEN? NOOOO!!! I WANT TO SEE THE VEHICLES! Traditionally the children are keen to see the royalties, but the boys may have been as interested in the vehicles carrying the Royalties as they were in the Royalties themselves. If the children were interested in automobiles then us adults wanted a bite of the anniversary cake that tasted great on a nice summer day. Thank you everyone for a welcoming anniversary. We enjoyed it thoroughly. 

Queueing up for the anniversary cake!

Hope you enjoyed these days with us!