The Royal National City Park’s 30th anniversary – from generation to generation

The world’s first – and Sweden’s only – national city park is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The Royal National City Park is Stockholm’s most visited recreation area; an oasis where nature, culture and entertainment co-exist in harmony. The anniversary will be celebrated throughout the year, with a variety of events around the park.

The Royal National City Park stretches from Ulriksdal and Sörentorp in the north to Djurgården and the Fjäderholm Islands in the south, spanning the municipalities of Solna, Stockholm and Lidingö. The historic royal parks form the core of the National City Park, which covers a total area of 27 square kilometres, almost eight times the size of New York’s Central Park. It is open to everyone – around the clock, and all year round!

During the park’s inauguration on 19 May 1995, King Carl XVI Gustaf released three doves at Ulriksdal Palace. The doves were called Värna, Vårda and Visa (Protect, Preserve and Present), symbolising the park’s three guiding principles: Protect natural and cultural value, preserve the area for the future, and present the park’s beauty while explaining its significance.

The entire National City Park is an area of national interest, and is important from a national perspective. It boasts a wealth of natural and cultural value, including more than 800 different flowering plants, a hundred species of birds, four royal palaces and a number of museums. The park is protected under a special provision in the Swedish Environmental Code, whereby new development must not harm the natural and cultural value of this historic landscape. This protection has been crucial in preserving the park’s values while the area has developed.

“Celebrating 30 years as a national city park is an important milestone for the park’s continued protection, preservation and presentation,” explains Acting County Governor Claes Lindgren. “The County Administrative Board coordinates the park’s care and management, together with the park’s stakeholders. If we look after the park, it will look after us.”

“It is not only we humans who are celebrating the National City Park today,” adds Gustaf Lind, Secretary-General of WWF. “The Eurasian eagle-owl is thriving here, too. Beavers can now be found in most of the park’s waterways. Herons were attracted to Isbladskärret in the 1980s when my former colleague Henrik Waldenström set up nesting platforms in the trees. Greylag geese have made a successful return to Isbladskärret, and many other creatures thrive in our beautiful, unique park.”

“The fact that the vast National City Park has been preserved today, at the heart of a growing capital city, is both unique and a source of great joy,” says Staffan Larsson, Governor of the Royal Palaces. “The ancient royal right of disposal is an important factor. King Karl Knutsson acquired Södra Djurgården back in 1452. After many years as a royal hunting ground, it was gradually opened up. Today, HM The King passionately defends the underlying role of the National City Park, where irreplaceable natural, cultural and entertainment features give the park its unique value.”

Actors involved in the Royal National City Park’s National City Park Council, Landowners’ Committee, Management Committee and Communications Officers’ Network: Akademiska Hus, the Bergius Botanic Garden, the National Urban Park Association, the Friends of Haga-Brunnsviken, the Royal Djurgården Society, the Royal Djurgården Administration, the Royal Court of Sweden, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Committee for the Gustavian Park, the City of Lidingö, Stockholm County Administrative Board, the City of Solna, the National Property Board, the Swedish National Maritime and Transport Museums, the City of Stockholm, Stockholm University, the Office of the Governor of the Royal Palaces, the Swedish Transport Administration, WWF.

The Royal National City Park is protected under the Swedish Environmental Code. A national city park should be a unique, historical landscape in an urbanised environment. It should have significance for the nation’s cultural heritage, for an urban area’s ecology and for recreation, based on the interaction between ecological, cultural-historical, social and recreational values. A national city park should also be close to an urban area, and should be largely undeveloped.

Presskontakt

Maria Ulander
08-402 60 59, 070-270 39 90
vx 08-402 60 00
marknad@royalcourt.se

Folke Bernadotte Bridge connects Rosendal with the museum park on Southern Djurgården. Photo: Raphael Stecksén.