20 Wonderful Color Photos of Sweden in 1979

Sweden is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of over 9.8 million. Sweden consequently has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54/sq mi), with the highest concentration in the southern half of the country. Approximately 85% of the population lives in urban areas.

Like countries around the globe, Sweden entered a period of economic decline and upheaval following the oil embargoes of 1973–74 and 1978–79. These wonderful photographs below were taken by Yvon Maurice in Sweden in 1979.

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Beautiful Vintage Color Photographs Showing Transport in Stockholm in the 1960s

We’re traveling back to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. These following beautiful pictures capture transport in Stockholm in the early 1960s.

Kungsgatan in Stockholm 1964

Vattugatan in central Stockholm in 1964

Trams at Tegelbacken in Stockholm 1962

Buses and tram at Odenplan in Stockholm 1962

Bus and tram on Munkbron in Stockholm 1964

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Bin Laden Family Vacationing in Falun, Sweden in 1971

1971: Osama bin Laden (second from right in green top and blue trousers) on a visit to Falun, Sweden. That year 23 members of the wealthy Bin Laden family visited Falun combining a business visit to close a deal with Volvo.

From a contemporary newspaper report on the visit of the wealthy Arab Family:

ARAB CELEBRITY VISIT
Yesterday Salem bin Ladin visited Falun on a combined business and pleasure trip through Europe. He was accompanied by 22 members of his family, which in total consists of 54 children. The young sheikh, who is 26 years old, arrived in his private jet to Borlange airport, while the rest of the family arrived by car. He has visited the club Ophelia in Falun. The young sheikh is reported to be a big fan of discos and has visited the discos of Falun at various times in the past, however not together with his family.

The sheikh is said to be owner of a big and successful construction company in his home country, Saudi Arabia. In Gothenburg it is said that he surprised Volvo by entering their office and ordering a large number of trucks for his company.

— Dalarnes Tidningar September 7, 1971.

Incredible Vintage Photos of the Old Stockholm Telephone Tower in Sweden From the Late 19th Century

Back in the day when the telephone was a fairly new technology, it was not uncommon for towns and cities to be engulfed in a wild mess of telephone lines. At the time, mankind had not yet learned that it was more efficient to bury telephone lines, resulting hundreds or thousands of lines stretching across a city. This practice led to an incredible feat of engineering called the Old Stockholm Telephone tower in Stockholm, Sweden.

Constructed in 1887, this 240 foot tall tower was the central hub of 5,500 telephone lines which snaked across Stockholm. The building dominated the city skyline, and the mass of lines leading to and from the tower made a very surreal and bizarre spectacle indeed.

Around the turn of the century towns and cities began burying their telephone lines. Stockholm did the same, and by 1913 the tower was made obsolete. From 1939 on it was used as an advertising board for the phone company. It was finally demolished in 1958 after being weakened by a fire.

In this amazing series of photos courtesy of Tekniska Museet, we get a glimpse at how the world was connected over a century ago.

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Dagen H: The Day Sweden Switched From Driving on the Left to the Right on 3 September 1967

Dagen H (H day), today mostly called "Högertrafikomläggningen" ("The right-hand traffic diversion"), was the day, 3 September 1967, on which traffic in Sweden switched from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right. The "H" stands for "Högertrafik", the Swedish word for "right traffic".

City buses were among the very vehicles that conformed to the normal opposite-steering wheel rule, being right-hand drive. Trams in central Stockholm, in Helsingborg and most lines in Malmö were withdrawn and replaced by buses, and over one thousand new buses were purchased with doors on the right-hand side. Some 8,000 older buses were retrofitted to provide doors on both sides, while Gothenburg and Malmö exported their right-hand drive (RHD) buses to Pakistan and Kenya. The modification of buses, paid by the state, was the largest cost of the change. In Gothenburg and Norrköping, and in two Stockholm suburbs, tram networks continued to operate.

There were various major arguments for the change:

• All Sweden's immediate neighbours (including Norway and Finland, with which Sweden has land borders) drove on the right, with 5 million vehicles crossing those borders annually.

• Approximately 90 per cent of Swedes drove left-hand drive (LHD) vehicles. This led to many head-on collisions when passing on narrow two-lane highways, which were common in Sweden due to the fact that the country's low population density and traffic levels made road-building expensive in per capita terms.

However, the change was widely unpopular; in a 1955 referendum, 83 percent voted to keep driving on the left. Nevertheless, on May 10, 1963, the Riksdag approved the introduction of right hand traffic in 1967, as the number of cars on the road had tripled from 500 000 to 1.5 million, and was expected to reach 2.8 million by 1975. A body known as Statens Högertrafikkommission (HTK) ("the state right-hand traffic commission") was established to oversee the changeover. It also began implementing a four-year education program, with the advice of psychologists.

The campaign included displaying the Dagen H logo on various commemorative items, including milk cartons and underwear. Swedish television held a contest for songs about the change; the winning entry was "Håll dig till höger, Svensson" ('Keep to the right, Svensson') by The Telstars.

As Dagen H neared, every intersection was equipped with an extra set of poles and traffic signals wrapped in black plastic. Workers roamed the streets early in the morning on Dagen H to remove the plastic. Similarly, a parallel set of lines were painted on the roads with white paint, then covered with black tape. Before Dagen H, Swedish roads had used yellow lines.

(via Wikipedia)

Wonderful Vintage Match Labels Made in Sweden

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The First Color Images of Sweden From the 1910s

Some rare color photographs of Sweden from the 1910s.

Wonderful Color Photos of Stockholm From Between the 1930s and 1960s

In the late 20th century, Stockholm became a modern, technologically advanced and ethnically diverse city. Throughout the century, many industries shifted away from work-intensive activities into more high-technology and service-industry knowledge-based areas.

The city continued to expand and new districts were created, some with high proportions of immigrants. Meanwhile, the inner city (Norrmalm) went through a criticised as well as admired wave of modernisation in the post-war period, the Redevelopment of Norrmalm, securing the city's geographical center as the political and business center for the future.

In 1923 the Stockholm municipal government moved to a new building, the Stockholm City Hall. The Stockholm International Exhibition was held in 1930. In 1967 the city of Stockholm was integrated into Stockholm County.

Below is a small collection of 22 wonderful color photographs of Stockholm from between the 1930s and 1960s.

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Vintage ABBA Album Covers

ABBA were a Swedish pop/rock/disco group formed in Stockholm in 1972, comprising Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. ABBA is an acronym of the first letters of the band members' first names and is sometimes stylized as the registered trademark ᗅᗺᗷᗅ. They became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of pop music, topping the charts worldwide from 1972 to 1982. They are also known for winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, giving Sweden its first victory in the history of the contest and being the most successful group ever to take part in the contest.

ABBA has sold over 370 million records worldwide and still sells millions of records a year, which makes them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Here is a collection of vintage ABBA album covers.

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Stunning Swedish Posters for Hollywood From the 1920s and 1930s

Here is a bunch of Swedish posters for classic Hollywood films from the 1920s and ’30s.

Sky Hawk, 1929 (artist: Eric Rohman)

Death Takes a Holiday, 1934 (artist: Moje Aslund)

The Walking Dead, 1936 (artist: Castegren)

Things to Come, 1936 (artist: Moje Aslund)

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