A day in the life

By Shelling

Way to work thoughts

Gustav Wasa, king-to-be and founder of the Swedish national state in 1523, came to Kalmar some years before that in an attempt to uproar against the Danish king Christian II and stopping him from taking over Stockholm and the Swedish state. In those days the two main cities was Kalmar, who controlled the southern border to Denmark, and Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. (remember this is an extremely short description of a few of Swedens most dramatic years. Google if your'e detail oriented). Eventually Gustav was elected king and, because he came to Kalmar to start the uproar, he was honoured with a statue/fountain on Larmtorget, one of the big squares in Kalmar. The fountain was called "The Wasa well" and was installed in 1926. The statue on top of it was called "David and Goliath". It shows quite a violent scene, supposed to be heroic,  the moment just before David beheads Goliath. Well, in 1926 I'm sure it made at least some of Kalmars citizens proud of Kalmars historic importance. 

In the summer the fountain is a popular place for rest and an ice cream on sofas around the fountain, and a good meeting place. A more macabre scene, I think, takes place in the autumn during the light festival, when a chain of light, wrapped around the statues pillar, light up every time a new baby is born at Kalmar hospital. I suppose no one really thinks about that the statue shows a brutal murder. Well, symbolically I'm sure you could reason in any sort of way but probably it's just a convenient pillar to wrap a light chain around in the popular, pub surrounded square.

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