Karlskrona is a town in Blekinge in southwestern Sweden. Its history goes back to the 17th century, when Sweden conquered southern Sweden from Denmark. North of the current city was the Danish medieval town of Lykkeby, and south of it were islands in the archipelago. In 1679 Vittus Andersson had to sell the island of Trossö to the Swedish state, which established Sweden’s primary naval station on the island. The naval harbor was protected by the archipelago, and fortifications were built to strengthen it even further.

Karlskrona was given city privileges in 1680, and bridges to the mainland were constructed from here. Neighboring towns were deprived of privileges, and citizens and merchants were forced to move to the new town, which grew rapidly to become one of Sweden’s largest cities. Over the years, however, Sweden lost its role as a great power, and Karlskrona thus lost part of its importance. However, the city retained its position as a naval base and thereby its military importance.

Today you can make some lovely walks in Karlskrona, which was visibly built in grand style during the Swedish era being a great European power. There streets are wide with the monumental square, Stortorget, as a centerpiece with large public buildings for the church and public administration. In the middle of Stortorget you can see Fredrykskyrkan church, which was built 1720-1744 in a very atypical Baroque for Scandinavia. Opposite Fredrikskyrkan is Karlskrona’s neoclassical town hall building, which dates from the end of the 18th century.

The town hall was already planned in the original town plan from 1683, and today the building is designed as a courthouse. In the ensemble of buildings on Stortorget, you can also see Trefaldighetskyrkan church, which lies to the south. The church was built by the German congregation from 1697 with consecration in 1709. It is an octagonal baroque church designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, who also designed the Fredrikskyrkan.

If you walk south from Stortorget, you come to Admiralty Square, where there were originally plans to build a palace as a new Swedish naval headquarters. The palace was to be Karlskrona’s architectural center in the town plan and to be located as a center and symbol of power. However, the Naval Palace was never realized, as the royal form of government did not allow for self-governing government offices outside of Stockholm.

Instead, Stortorget became the center, and in 1699 the Admiralty Clock Tower was erected on the palace square, and it was supposed to function as the clock tower for the city’s shipyard. Later it became the bell tower for the church in the local parish, Admiralite Church, which was built as a temporary wooden church. The church is also called Ulrica Pia, and it was consecrated in 1685. Originally, the plan was for the beautiful wooden church to be replaced by a larger stone church, but those plans were not carried out.

Large parts of Karlskrona are included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List as a planned European naval city. Many of the city’s best-known towns are included in the UNESCO list, and this is the case for the naval port as well as the shipyard and many of the fortifications that line the approach to Karlskrona, eg Kungsholm’s Fort and Drottningskär’s Castle.

These can be seen and explored on sailing trips in the archipelago, while you can see places such as Old Naval Shipyard/Gamla Örlogsvarvet and the maritime museum Marinmuseum close to the center of Karlskrona. At the museum you can learn about the naval city of Karlskrona, the history of the Swedish naval defense and see many exciting exhibitions and items such as several figureheads, the wreck tunnel with a view of an underwater shipwreck and the submarine hall with the Cold War submarine HMS Neptun and the Hajen from 1904, which was the Swedish navy’s first submarine.