Welcome to a photo exhibition where photographer Anders Västlund reflects on historical environments with newly acquired images, as far as possible taken from the same angles as the originals from the 19th and 20th centuries.
See the images side by side and experience the changing city – but also its enduring qualities. Although much is different, the city is almost always recognizable.
Exhibition period: June 2 – September 3.
Thanks to the Museum of Gothenburg, the Medical History Museum, Sahlgrenska University Hospital and the property managers and the art unit at Region Västra Götaland.
Photo: Anders Västlund
Historical photo: see each image
Words: Anna Rikner
Layout: Maria Lagergréen
Printing: Sandstens tryckeri, Gothenburg 2023
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Gothenburg Cathedral (Göteborgs domkyrka)
The current Cathedral was inaugurated in 1815 and designed by Gothenburg's first city architect, Carl Wilhelm Carlberg. It is the third stone church on the same site, since the first two were destroyed in violent city fires. During the last fire, the cemetery surrounding the church was also destroyed, so it got decommissioned and covered with cobblestones.
In the lithograph from 1837, you can see Västra Hamnkanalen (Western Harbor Canal) in the foreground, which at that time stank so badly that it was popularly called the “Port of Crap”. It was filled up in 1903 and today the tram tracks follow the same route as the canal.
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Gothenburg from Hisingen island (Göteborg från Hisingen)
111 years ago, photographer Anna Backlund stood on Ramberget (Raven Hill) on Hisingen island and took several photos in a row towards mainland Gothenburg. In the darkroom, she then joined them together into a unified view of the central parts of the city.
Both the photographic technique and the view have changed since then, but despite that it is not difficult to recognize the now 400-year-old city. The historic buildings are landmarks that connect both the centuries and the urban space. Among them Gothenburg Cathedral and the German Christinae Church, whose towers can be seen among the surrounding high-rise buildings.
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The Chapel at Sahlgrenska University Hospital (Sjukhuskyrkan)
Since the Sahlgrenska Hospital was inaugurated at its current location in 1900, there have been chapels in several different locations on the hospital grounds. The 1896 drawing shows a detached building with the first funeral chapel, while the 1917 chapel is at the end of a corridor inside one of the hospital buildings.
Finding out exactly where the latter chapel was located has been a long process with many dedicated people involved. The answer is most likely that the site of the chapel has been converted into an entrance, while the windows – made by glazier Neumann Vogel – were placed as decorations in the same corridor.
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Maria Church (Mariakyrkan)
Fattighusån's (Poor House Creek) calm waters give the impression of an almost rural idyll both now and then. When Maria Church was inaugurated in 1815, it was located in an area that the citizens of Gothenburg regarded as the countryside, but since then much has changed.
Industries and offices have developed and since the beginning of the century, just out of sight in the pictures, there are both sports arenas and a dense urban development.
The simply decorated Maria Church was intended for Gothenburg's poor house and was therefore initially called the Poor House Church. In contrast to the the converted drying house formerly used as a church for the poor, it was still a great increase in standard.
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Annedal Church (Annedalskyrkan)
When the viaduct over Per Dubbsgatan (Per Dubb Street) was rebuilt in the early 1960s, the streetscape below Annedal Church changed. A new footbridge made it safer to get over to Slottsskogen (Castle Forest), and the increasing motor traffic got a new route.
Today, it is mainly the tram tracks that catches the eye up on the bridge, but it is also possible to cross the traffic route on foot or by bicycle.
In the background you can see Skansen Kronan, which with its roots from the 17th century was here long before the Annedal Church was inaugurated in 1910. The church, unusually enough, lies in a north-south direction, with the chancel in the south.
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Guldhed Church (Guldhedskyrkan)
At first glance, not much appears to have changed in the two images. But the passage of time is visible in the details.
Guldhed Church was inaugurated on October 2, 1966, and the older picture was taken earlier that year, before the work on the Church was finished. In the bell tower the top of a ladder sticks out, there are piles of boards on the ground and to the right there is still a gap in the facade.
In the present-day picture, the trees have grown and even if the crosswalk remains in the same place, a greater number of traffic signs testify to the increased traffic in the area.
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Johanneberg Church (Johannebergskyrkan)
From Gibraltargatan (Gibraltar Street), the trees obscure the Johanneberg Church, which in both pictures is photographed during the first months of the year.
The picture from 1939 was taken 1.5 years before the church's inauguration. Here you can only see the beginning of the characteristic tower, which now rises 62 meters above the ground with a cross standing on a globe as its highest point.
The Johanneberg Church was designed by architect Sigfrid Ericson and is built in a mixture of classicism and functionalism, which was clearly inspired by the then seven-year-old Martin Church in Turku.
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The Barracks church in Burås (Barackkyrkan)
In 1950, a provisional small church was built in Burås on the initiative of a local working group. The Barracks Church consisted of two converted military barracks and functioned as a church for two decades, before Burås Church was inaugurated in 1971. The older picture shows the back of the Barracks Church, which had the entrance on the opposite side, facing the residential buildings on Framnäsgatan (Framnäs Street).
Today there is nothing left that reminds of the Barracks Church, but the residential buildings in the background are the same. The city has also grown in such a way that it is no longer possible to stand where the unknown photographer took their picture just over half a century ago.
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Haga Church (Hagakyrkan)
Even though the hill is the same, the sledging children in long socks and knee breeches makes it feel steeper in the more than a century-old photograph. In many ways, the fact that both trees, cars and electric scooters now have taken over the area makes it feel like a completely different place. But with Haga Church in the background, the images are anchored in both time and space.
The Haga Church was designed by architect Adolf W. Edelsvärd and inaugurated in 1859 as an annex church to the Cathedral. Firstly, it did not have its own name, and for a few years it was just called the New Church. It was only when Haga parish was formed in 1883 that the church was officially named Haga Church.
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Vasa Church (Vasakyrkan)
During the 19th century, the Götaberg estate (a lavish agricultural property) was located on the site of the current Vasa Church, a good distance outside the city itself. The owners leased the land from the city and when Gothenburg grew, the land was redeemed to make room for housing, a church and university buildings.
In 1909, the Vasa Church was inaugurated, surrounded by the wooden houses in the shanty town of Brandtdala (Steep Valley) – among them the house in the picture from 1914. It was demolished shortly afterwards, when the entire shanty town was razed to the ground to make way for new stone houses for workers.
But it is not only the city that has grown, the trees have also grown large and taken over the old house ground.
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Landala Chapel (Landala kapell)
Anyone who visits Kapellplatsen (Chapel Place) today can only guess from the name that Landala Chapel was located here for 34 years. In the older picture, the buildings are seen taking shape around the chapel, which was inaugurated in 1885 as the Cathedral's new annex in Landala.
In 1919, the chapel was moved a few hundred meters to its current location. In 1960, large parts of the building were destroyed in a fire, but the chapel was soon rebuilt in its original design and was re-consecrated just two years later.
The original tower was, just like the current one, built in two sections in different colours. What in the picture from 1914 appears to be a taller tower behind the church tower itself, is in fact part of the building.
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German Christinae Church (Tyska Christinae kyrka)
In the photograph from 1903, horse-drawn carts, trams and pedestrians crowd the intersection of Södra Hamngatan (South harbour Street)/Östra Hamngatan (East harbour Street). At this time, most of the city's transports was drawn by horses and the observant eye can see that there is a haystack at Gustav Adolfs torg (Gustav Adolf Square) – located in in the lower right corner of the photo.
120 years later, the trams look different, but they basically follow the same route through the inner city. Behind the Town Hall looms the new Karlatornet (Karla Tower) at Hisingen island, which here has not yet reached its full height. A few hundred years ago, it was instead the German Christinae Church that was the city's tallest building.