Between Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea

As we gather in Stockholm, we find ourselves in a city of long history. The name ‘Stockholm’ easily splits into two distinct parts – Stock-holm, or ‘Log-islet’. The most established explanation for the name is logs driven into the strait passing north of today’s old town, with its history by dendrochronological examinations dated back to around 1000.

Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, encompasses 14 islands and more than 50 bridges on an extensive Baltic Sea archipelago. The cobblestone streets and ochre-colored buildings of Gamla Stan (the Old Town) are home to the 13th-century Storkyrkan Cathedral, the Royal Palace and the Nobel Museum, which focuses on the Nobel Prize.

Today, the City of Stockholm is Sweden’s largest municipality and home to over 980,000 people. Ferries and sightseeing boats shuttle passengers between the islands. Stockholm is also the home of the Nobel Prize, one of the most connected cities in the world, one of the five fastest growing cities in Europe, and where innovation and creativity thrives.

Stockholm municipality is a green city and just over 40 percent of the land consists of parks and green areas. Here you will find large hiking areas, fine parks and promenades as well as small district parks. Stockholm’s nature is characterised by its special location between Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea and through Mälardalen’s mild climate with cultivation zone II corresponding to Skåne’s inland. Despite over a thousand years of influence of people through buildings, the construction of streets, roads and squares, as well as parks and green areas, there are only a few kilometers from Stockholm City’s completely original nature areas.