Luleå

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**Luleå**
Image:Luleå in Sweden.png	City arms Image:Luleå City Arms.png
	65°36′N 22°09′E
	Charter	1621
	Municipality	Luleå Municipality
	County	Norrbotten County
	Province	Norrbotten
	Population	Municipal: 72,910 (2006) Urban: 56,568 (2005)

Luleå (listen (help·info), [lʉːlɛ]), in Lule sami, Luleju, is a Swedish city in Norrbotten in northern Sweden, situated at 65°36′N 22°09′E. The population, and the Luleå Municipality has nearly 73,000 inhabitants, constituting the seat of Norrbotten County.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Weather
4 Today
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Geography

The town is situated on a peninsula where the Lule Bay meets the Gulf of Bothnia; the bay stretches north-west and becomes the Lule River, allowing sea way transportation across the county.

The harbour of Luleå is of particular significance for iron ore from LKAB's mining in Kiruna and Gällivare/Malmberget. During the winter, sea traffic continues at virtually unchanged rate with the assistance of ice breakers (Luleå is the home port of the Swedish ice breaker armada).

[edit] History

Image:Suecia Luleå Civitas Vetus.jpg

Image:Suecia Luleå Civitas Nova.jpg

Luleå was an important harbour already in medieval times, in the 13-15th centuries.

The Royal charter was granted in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. It was situated where Gammelstad (Old Town) is situated today. The town had to be moved in 1649 to the current site, due to the land elevation that had made the bay too shallow for ships to enter.

The Church Village of Gammelstad is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In 1887, a devastating fire destroyed most of the town, sparing only a few buildings. The Neo-Gothic Cathedral (originally the Oscar Fredrik church), dedicated in 1893, is at 67 meters the tallest building in town.

Image:Lulea Kirche.jpg

The Diocese of Luleå was created in 1904, by breaking out of the diocese of Härnösand. A bishop took its seat there, and the church was declared a cathedral ( (Luleå Cathedral). The diocese is Sweden's largest, covering the counties of Västerbotten County and Norrbotten County, basically everything north of Umeå.

Of nonconfirmist churches, Laestadianism is the largest.

[edit] Weather

The overall architecture and grid-like layout of the inner city amplifies wind currents, as one might expect, but outside of the downtown area the wind is much tamer. To some, it seems that no matter where you go, the wind will always blow in the least desired direction, even though the winds mostly come from the south. This phenomenon has inspired the habitants of Luleå to spawn numerous jokes about the central street of the inner city actually being a wind tunnel.

[edit] Today

Major employees in the city are the SSAB steelworks and Luleå University of Technology. A Swedish Air Force wing, F 21 (or Norrbotten Air Force Wing), is stationed near Luleå neighbouring Luleå Airport.