Pictures of some of the remarkable buildings and sites in Karlskrona--->

The Naval port of Karlskrona was nominated on the 2nd of December 1998 to become the ninth Swedish location to be placed on Unesco’s prestige-filled World Heritage List.
It is the town’s well kept naval environment from the 1600 and 1700’s that has contributed to it’s nomination.

This picture from  Baltic Sail gives a good idea of how the waters outside Karlskrona might have looked in the old days...

Karlskrona is one of the few remaining naval ports in the world which is almost fully intact. The Swedish director-general of the central board of national antiquities office, has seen as evident that the naval port of Karlskrona should be represented as a worthy world heritage. This strong commitment has come from both regional and local organizations.

It was the transformation of Stumholmen, from a closed military area to a part of the community, that started the discussion of having Karlskrona nominated. Other deciding factors, were the extensive investments made in the preservation of many local buildings.

The nomination gives new status to the marketing of Karlskrona, as a tourist sight. This will be a very important task to work with in terms of information to the public and tourists, according to Leifh Stenholm, the county antiquary from Blekinge.

The Naval Port of Karlskrona

Karlskrona, founded in 1680, is an outstanding example of a European planned naval port of the late 17th century, when naval power was important for Southern Sweden to keep the country together. The foremost fortification experts were summoned to Karlskrona to build the most modern and effective naval base Europe had ever seen. Karlskrona received, because of this, great recognition through all of Europe for it’s ship building, architecture, town planning and factory and defense technology.

Karlskrona, unlike other naval ports in Europe, has continued to exist and develop because Sweden has not experienced any war within it’s boundaries since 1809. The town’s naval heritage has also been passed on thanks to over 300 hundred years of an unbroken relationship between the naval base and the shipyard.

The entire nominated area – the naval port’s central parts including the shipyard, the naval base and the surrounding defense structures – is classified as a national interest area by the Historical Preservation Committee since 1987. The preserved buildings are of a very high architectural, artistic and technical quality.

Unesco’s Criteria

Criterion ii:  Karlskrona is an exceptionally well preserved example of a European planned naval town, which incorporates elements derived from earlier establishments in other countries and which was in its turn to serve as the model for subsequent towns with similar functions.
Criterion iv: Naval bases played an important role in the centuries during which naval power was a determining factor in European Realpolitik and Karlskrona is the best preserved and most complete of those that survive.

Pictures of some of the remarkable buildings and sites in Karlskrona--->
Unescos page