Photos

Holmentornet/Holmen Tower

It was Motala river which gave Norrköping life and power. Waterpower got the many mills which were built here since the middle ages working. Within Norrköping the river has a free fall of 18m from which a lot of power was available. Not only that, in the river Salmon and other fish could be found.

Along the banks of Motala River a number of woollen spinning mills and cotton factories were established. By the middle of the 19th century, Norrköping was the second largest industrial city in Sweden. 70% of Swedens textiles were woven here.

Magnificent factory buildings are proof of the cities industrial wealth. Today, none of these buildings are used in the way they were intended. The sound of the last spinning mill was heard in the middle of the 1970’s. The city has decided to preserve this area by putting much money and time into it.

From 1750 the Holmen Tower is the entrance to the old Holmen area. Holmens Bruk was working in this area from the early 1600’s and only ended the production of paper in 1986 when a newer factory outside Norrköping took over.

The area which had been a dense industrial area before nowadays is used for offices, a concerthall, a conference centre and other activities. In the area around Holmentornet you can find offices of some large companies, a restaurant and a dancingstudio.

On this photo you see the Holmen Tower from the inner yard. This photo is the first of a series of five about the preserved Norrköping industrial landscape. All photo’s in this series were taken in July 1997 and are scanned from positive slides.

If you understand Swedish you can find more information at http://www.norrkoping.se/norrkoping/industri/