Ljungby

Story

Ljungby is the central locality of Ljungby Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden, with 15,785 inhabitants in 2015.Ljungby was in 1829 instituted as a köping, or market town, and did not become a municipality of its own when the first local government acts took effect in 1863, but retained part of the surrounding rural municipality of the same name. In 1936 Ljungby got the title stad, Swedish for Town or City. Ljungby is since 1971 the seat of Ljungby Municipality.Much of the town centre was destroyed in the 1953 city fire. The at the time modern style of the rebuilding, characterized by among other Hotel Terazza, still remains controversial locally.HistoryThe first known inhabitant of the area that is today's Ljungby was Astrad, as can be read on the runestone Replösastenen from the 11th century located a couple of kilometers from the city centre. The runestone says: "Götrad made this stone after Astrad, the foremost of kinsmen and yeomen (odalmän) who in Finnveden formerly lived". In 1952 a statue by John Lundqvist was erected near the main plaza depicting Astrad and Götrad. But there were other people living around Ljungby long before Astrad and Götrad as evident by the numerous burial mounds in the area. One of the largest burial mounds lies close to the water tower and is named Kungshögen. The largest burial is however Höga rör that lies some kilometers south of Ljungby on the slope of the Lagan river valley.