Östersund is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden’s fifth largest lake, Storsjön, opposite the island Frösön, and is the only city in Jämtland. Östersund is the region’s cultural and economical centre and by tradition a city of trade and commerce. Östersund had one of the most extensive garrisons in Sweden prior to its closure in the early-21st century. The city is the Mid Sweden University’s largest campus site with approximately 7,000 students. With a total population of 50,960 (2017) Östersund is the 22nd most populous city in Sweden, the 46th most populous city in Scandinavia, and by far the largest inland city in Northern Sweden.

The city was the only Swedish city founded and chartered in the 18th century. Östersund was founded in order to create a trade monopoly over Jämtland whose inhabitants’ lucrative trade annoyed the Swedish crown. The intention was to persuade the local farmers to deliver merchandise to middlemen in Östersund, but the population opposed this economic philosophy, and Östersund long remained small. It took until the end of the 19th century for Östersund to truly become a city, after the arrival of the railroad and the economic liberalization of that time.

Östersund is situated in inland Scandinavia and connected to Sundsvall in the east on the Swedish coast, and Trondheim in the west at the shores of the Norwegian Sea. Östersund is located in the middle of Scandinavia, in the middle of Sweden, in the middle of Jämtland County and in the middle of Östersund Municipality. As the most centrally located city in Sweden, the city credits itself as the centre of Sweden.

Östersund is marketed as Vinterstaden – Winter City. Winter City as a project is run by the Municipality together with city enterprises. Östersund has had a long history as a centre of outdoor activities with a modern cross-country ski stadium and an actual piste in the city itself. Östersund has also hosted several World Championships in various sports such as biathlon, speed skating and ski orienteering along with Swedish National Championships in cross country skiing and snocross. The city has been the applicant city of Sweden for several Winter Olympic Games, but has yet to host one. The precursor to the Winter Olympic Games, the Nordic Games, were however held at several occasions in the city, due to lack of snow in Stockholm.

Landmarks

The most well known landmark of Östersund is the national romantic Östersund City Hall (Östersunds rådhus). It is 51 meters tall and contains 136 rooms. It is the greatest constructional symbol of the National Romantic architecture in Östersund. The city hall looks almost like a fortress and affiliates especially to the local art of Jämtland. The bell tower is of typical Jamtish design shaped like an onion, the local sculpture Olof Ahlberg (1876-1956) made most of the sculpture details and the ornaments are made from Jamtish limestone.

Östersund City Hall was designed by Frans Bertil Wallberg (1862-1935) and was seen by contemporary colleagues as the best of modern Swedish architecture. The main part of the building is accentuated by a grand tower and a monumental stairway. It is accompanied by only one wing, the north wing, as the second, south wing, was torn down in the 1970s.

A recently built landmark is Arctura, named after Jämtland’s provincial star Arcturus, a large hot water accumulator tank. Due to its appearance it is referred to as Termosen (Thermos). At night the 65 meter building is illuminated with various lights like sunrise and the Aurora Borealis.

Culture

Cultural venues

Östersund is the cultural centre of Jämtland County and home to the prize winning museum Jamtli. The museum has both an indoor exhibition area and an outdoor area which contains a number of historical buildings from all over the county, depicting the old lives of peasants, the early city of Östersund and the Scandinavian inland herding. The museum exhibition hosts an interesting set of tapestries, the Överhogdal tapestries, showing a rich imagery of both Norse and Christian origin from the Viking Age. The mythical Storsjöodjuret (Great Lake Monster) has an exhibit of its own. Another remnant from the Viking age is Frösöstenen, one of the world’s most northerly rune stones located on Frösön, the island of Freyr.

The county library, Jämtlands läns bibliotek is located in the city. It is the oldest county library in Sweden, being founded in 1816 by the will of professor Carl Zetterström. As the library grew it was moved to a bigger facility. The older building is now situated beside the old church in Kyrkparken.Moose Garden

Lake Storsjön has been trafficked for a long time and the steamships S/S Thomée and S/S Östersund are still in operation every summer. Unlike most boats, they are seen as male and not female. S/S Thomée is the only one that sets sail from Östersund’s harbour. S/S Östersund sails from Arvesund, located at Storsjön’s western shore but makes visits to Jamtli’s steamboat jetty.

Frösö Zoo is one of Sweden’s largest zoological gardens with exotic animals. It has roughly 700 animals like Siberian tigers, lions, polar wolves, monkeys etc. Frözö Zoo also has a tropic house, a biological museum and an amusement park. Outside of Östersund in the village of Orrviken there’s a Moose Zoo, called Moose Garden allowing close encounters with tame moose.Färgfabriken Norr

Färgfabriken (‘ paint factory’) is a centre for experimental culture based in Stockholm, that perceive itself as a laboratory of contemporary art. A branch named Färgfabriken Norr was established in Östersund between April 2008 and January 2011. 

Gaaltije, the centre for South Sami culture, opened in 1999 and is a living source of knowledge for South Sami culture, history and business.

Gamla Tingshuset holds a small cinema, a café, a small venue and practice halls. It is usually a meeting place for the town’s youth.

Events

• The city festival Storsjöyran (referred to as simply Yran, literally meaning: The Great Lake Giddy Festival), the oldest city festival in Scandinavia and with 55,000 visitors every year the largest in Sweden. Storsjöyran is held in the middle of Östersund the last weekend of July. Although the event starts the weekend before with the opening of “Krogstråket” when regional bars and restaurants gather near the lake.
• Jamtli Christmas Market is well attended market taking place the second weekend of Advent.
• Expo Norr, Sweden’s oldest merchandise trade fair held in June with roughly 400 exhibitors.
• Vinterparken (‘The Winter Park’), with seasonal lakeside events.

Education

Östersund recently became a university city and the Mid Sweden University has its largest campus site in Östersund with well over 7,000 students. The Mid Sweden University was a university college (högskola) named Mitthögskolan until it was granted university status in 2005, making it the youngest university in Sweden. Mitthögskolan was the result of the merger between the University College of Sundsvall/Härnösand (Högskolan i Sundsvall/Härnösand) and the University College of Östersund (Högskolan i Östersund).

Östersund is a centre for the research in Social Sciences (Business Administration, Psychology, Sociology and Political Science) and Social Work, whilst the research in Health Sciences is split between Östersund and Sundsvall.

The city has several secondary schools (gymnasieskolor) of which Palmcrantzskolan (PC) and Wargentinsskolan (Wargen) are the two largest. Among the smaller are Primrose, John Bauer, VTC-gymnasiet and Östersund’s gymnasieskola.