Uppsala

Uppsala: history & character

Founded as a bishopric in 1164 and the seat of the Archbishop of Sweden since 1273, Uppsala is the country's spiritual and academic capital. The 1287 cathedral, the tallest church in Scandinavia at 118.7 m, holds the tombs of Gustav Vasa and Carl Linnaeus. Five kilometres north stand the royal mounds of Gamla Uppsala, the spiritual centre of the pre-Christian Viking world and one of Sweden's most legendary archaeological sites. The founding of Scandinavia's oldest university in 1477 gave the city its enduring student character: today 230,000 inhabitants, 45,000 of them students, a compact medieval centre crossed by the Fyrisån river, and a unique veterinary infrastructure thanks to SLU and its teaching hospital UDS, the only 24-hour small-animal referral hospital in the country. For dog owners, this is Sweden's most relaxed destination after Stockholm: 108 hectares of urban forest, seven fenced municipal dog parks, and a fika culture that welcomes dogs at the café table.