Sundsvall: the stone city reborn from ashes

On the beautiful Baltic coast in Sweden, Sundsvall was rebuilt entirely in solid stone after a devastating nineteenth-century fire that razed the entire downtown to the ground.

The downtown, rebuilt entirely in stone after a devastating fire, is comfortably walkable on foot.

The stone downtown of Sundsvall, entirely rebuilt after the great fire of 1888, preserves elegant Art Nouveau facades on wide tree-lined avenues.

A few minutes away, the Sundsvall Museum recounts the long history of the timber industry that made the city enormously wealthy in the nineteenth century.

Continuing towards Norra Stadsberget hill, you ascend on a historic funicular with splendid panoramic views over the entire city and the Bothnian Gulf below.

Towards evening, the port neighbourhood comes alive with restaurants overlooking the islands of Sundsvall's archipelago.

The 1888 fire nearly completely destroyed Sundsvall, then built of wood, prompting authorities to mandate reconstruction entirely in stone and brick, giving rise to the name 'Stenstaden,' the Stone City.

Sundsvall, greatly enriched by timber trade along the Baltic coast, became one of northern Sweden's most prosperous cities in the nineteenth century thanks to its numerous sawmills.