Gothenburg is Sweden’s second-largest city, with just over 613,000 people in the municipality. Founded by King Gustavus Adolphus in 1621 at the mouth of the Göta älv, it was deliberately developed as Sweden’s principal western trading port and remains Scandinavia’s largest port city. Dutch engineers helped design the original centre, leaving a network of canals that still runs through the city. Major sights include the historic Haga district, the 17th-century Kronhuset, Feskekörka fish market, Skansen Kronan and Liseberg amusement park, while ferries and public transport provide easy access to the islands of the Gothenburg archipelago. Gothenburg also occupies an exceptional place in heavy metal history. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, bands including At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames helped develop the melodic death metal style internationally known as the “Gothenburg sound”, making the city one of the few places in the world to have given its name to a recognised metal genre.

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