Borås

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City in Västergötland, Sweden

title: "Borås" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["borås", "populated-places-in-borås-municipality", "municipal-seats-of-västra-götaland-county", "cities-in-sweden", "swedish-municipal-seats"] description: "City in Västergötland, Sweden" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borås" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary City in Västergötland, Sweden ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
official_name	Borås
image_skyline	Borås central-1.jpg
image_caption	Borås railway station
nickname	Textiletown
image_shield	Borås kommunvapen - Riksarkivet Sverige-vector.svg
pushpin_map	Sweden Västra Götaland#Sweden
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	Sweden
subdivision_type3	Municipality
subdivision_name3	Borås Municipality
subdivision_type2	County
subdivision_name2	Västra Götaland County
subdivision_type1	Province
subdivision_name1	Västergötland
established_title	Founded
established_date	1621
area_footnotes
area_total_km2	967.53
population_as_of	2022
population_footnotes
population_total	114,445
population_density_km2	126.13
timezone	CET
utc_offset	+1
timezone_DST	CEST
utc_offset_DST	+2
coordinates
elevation_m	143
postal_code_type	Postal code
postal_code	501 xx
area_code	(+46) 33
blank_name	Climate
blank_info	Cfb
website
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::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Suecia_3-043_;_Borås.png" caption="Suecia antiqua et hodierna]]."] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Boras_Krokshallstorget.jpg" caption="Caroli church]] with [[Viskan]] in front."] ::

Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 114,556 inhabitants in 2024. It is widely known for being a textile city, home to worldwide brands and companies as well as the prestigious Swedish School of Textiles, which is part of the University of Borås.

Geography

Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them the railway between Gothenburg and Kalmar, and is often considered the Swedish city gaining the most from the nationwide railway system laid between 1870 and 1910.

History

The city of Borås received its privileges in 1621 by King Gustav II Adolf. The reason was to give local pedlars a legal place for vending their merchandise (and for the government the ability to collect taxes on this trade). The city developed soon after it was founded. After a century it had increased to over 2,000 inhabitants. Borås has been ravaged by fires four times: in 1681, 1727, 1822 and 1827. The Caroli church is the oldest of Borås's buildings, and has withstood all fires.

In 2021, Borås marked its 400th anniversary.

Industry

The city arms depicts two pairs of sheep shears, a tribute to the vast number of smiths in the town in early history. It currently holds the Swedish record in the number of established mail-order firms.

The company Swedac is based in the city, as well as Ericsson, which has a large manufacturing plant where Mini-Link microwave radios are manufactured. Worldwide clothing retailer H&M have their worldwide Online office based in the city as well.

Outside the city in the industrial park of Viared, there are many companies specializing in logistics. Industries in Borås have close collaboration with the University College of Borås as well as the SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, the largest technical research institute of Sweden, both located in Borås. Besides being the home of the official Swedish Kilogram-weight and the atomic clock that sets the national time, SP conducts various testing and research to promote consumer safety.

Transport

Railway

Borås is a railway junction. The Coast-to-Coast Line from Gothenburg to Kalmar runs through the city centre. At the Borås Railway Station it meets the Älvsborg Line (heading north to Herrljunga and Uddevalla) and the Viskadal Line (going south to Varberg). Continuous passenger trains often run through the city along the two latter lines.

As of 2019 SJ runs 3–4 daily trains in each direction between Gothenburg and Kalmar. The regional traffic agency Västtrafik runs frequent trains between Borås and Gothenburg, Herrljunga, and Varberg. All passenger trains stop at Borås railway station. Trains on the northern line to and from Herrljunga also stop at Knalleland halt within the city.

Bus

There are several commuter buses going to both Jönköping and Gothenburg. Approximately 100.000 people commute between Borås and Gothenburg every month.

Air

The nearest airport is Gothenburg Landvetter Airport, which is located 41 km west of Borås. The airport can easily be reached by car, bus and train.

Sports

The most successful sports team is the football team IF Elfsborg, six times Swedish champions (1936, 1939, 1940,1961, 2006 and 2012) and three times winner of the Swedish Cup (2001, 2003 and 2014). Elfsborg was founded in 1904, but received its current name in 1906. The team's home arena, since 2005, is Borås Arena (formerly Ryavallen Stadium) in Borås, with a capacity of 16000. Elfsborg play in yellow and black.

Other teams are Borås Hockey Club, M7 (a basketball team that worked with Magic Johnson for a short while) and Borås Rhinos which is an American football team.

The table tennis club, Mariedals IK, had three players in the Swedish youth team: Hampus Söderlund, Mattias Översjö and Jimmy Ojakangas.

Other sports that can be practiced in Borås are: archery, track and field, rowing, handball, table tennis, tennis, skiing, orienteering, sport shooting, swimming, golf, equestrian, bowling, cheerleading, floorball and various martial arts. Borås Judoclub has tried to create a national center for judo. Members from the club that have participated in the olympics include Per Kjellin and Lars Adolfsson (who competed twice).

Boråshallen is the largest indoor sports hall in Borås, where the Mariedal cup, an indoor football competition, is held annually in October or November. The competition started in 1978 in its current form.

Borås hosted the water polo events of the XIII FINA World Masters Championships 2010, from 28 July to 6 August.

The city also hosted the 2019 European Athletics U20 Championships.

Other sports clubs located in Borås include:

The Rydafältet hosted the motorcycle speedway teams Saxarna in 1951 and Knallarna in 1952. The Ryavallen was the venue for the 1972 and 1973 Speedway World Pairs Championship finals.

Culture

Hemvärnets Musikkår Borås – a marching and sitting orchestra
Borås kulturskola – School of the Arts (for young people).
Borås kulturhus – theater, library, museum of art
Borås Tidning – the local newspaper.
Textilmuseet – a museum about textile manufacturing and clothes.
Borås djurpark – The local zoo. They have successfully raised a number of different animals and even exported lions to other zoos.
Åhaga – A renovated building previously used to maintain and repair locomotives. Now used for conferences and concerts.

Every summer, a number of free outdoor concerts are held on the town square on Thursday evenings.

The city has lately been recognized as a city of outdoor sculptures, such as Catafalque by Sean Henry, Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd's knotted non-violence pistol and a huge bronze version of Pinocchio called Walking to Borås by the American pop artist Jim Dine.

During the holiday All Saints' Day, there is an annual gaming convention called Borås Spelkonvent, where people, mostly youths, meet to play various board games, Warhammer 40k and Magic: The Gathering among other games.

Climate

Borås has a humid continental climate, or cold oceanic climate using the −3 °C isotherm, influenced by Atlantic trade winds travelling without major obstacles over the land, with low mean temperatures, compared to coastal areas and the more urban metropolis, Gothenburg, near to the west. Considering it being inland and quite far south, summer temperatures are rather subdued by Swedish standards, whilst winter average highs hover just above freezing. Being inland still enables severe extremes to sometimes occur, such as a 36 C reading from July 1901, the warmest July temperature on record in Götaland until 2022, although not a national record (38 C) set on two different June dates and years on other stations). The coldest extreme was set in February 1966 with -34.1 C, a severely cold temperature for southern Sweden.

By Swedish standards, the climate of Borås is very wet, with a precipitation average of above 1100 mm. This is also due to maritime airflows coming from the Atlantic and easily being transported over lowland areas, where the precipitation eventually falls with a slight orographic lift. This renders heavy solid or wet snowfall in winter and the freeze-thaw cycle is normally dominant, with irregular snow cover.

|location = Borås (2002–2020; extremes since 1901) |collapsed = |metric first = Yes |single line = Yes |Jan record high C = 10.0 |Feb record high C = 16.4 |Mar record high C = 20.0 |Apr record high C = 27.5 |May record high C = 30.0 |Jun record high C = 33.1 |Jul record high C = 36.0 |Aug record high C = 33.2 |Sep record high C = 28.0 |Oct record high C = 22.5 |Nov record high C = 15.5 |Dec record high C = 11.2 |year record high C = 36.0 |Jan avg record high C = 7.0 |Feb avg record high C = 7.9 |Mar avg record high C = 13.4 |Apr avg record high C = 19.7 |May avg record high C = 25.2 |Jun avg record high C = 27.3 |Jul avg record high C = 28.8 |Aug avg record high C = 27.7 |Sep avg record high C = 22.8 |Oct avg record high C = 16.4 |Nov avg record high C = 11.2 |Dec avg record high C = 8.1 |year avg record high C = 29.9 |Jan high C = 1.2 |Feb high C = 1.8 |Mar high C = 5.6 |Apr high C = 11.9 |May high C = 16.8 |Jun high C = 20.2 |Jul high C = 22.1 |Aug high C = 20.9 |Sep high C = 16.9 |Oct high C = 10.7 |Nov high C = 6.1 |Dec high C = 3.1 |year high C = |Jan mean C = -1.3 |Feb mean C = -1.0 |Mar mean C = 1.6 |Apr mean C = 6.7 |May mean C = 11.4 |Jun mean C = 15.0 |Jul mean C = 17.2 |Aug mean C = 16.4 |Sep mean C = 12.8 |Oct mean C = 7.6 |Nov mean C = 3.9 |Dec mean C = 0.9 |year mean C = |Jan low C = -3.7 |Feb low C = -3.8 |Mar low C = -2.5 |Apr low C = 1.5 |May low C = 6.0 |Jun low C = 9.7 |Jul low C = 12.2 |Aug low C = 11.8 |Sep low C = 8.6 |Oct low C = 4.4 |Nov low C = 1.6 |Dec low C = -1.4 |year low C = |Jan avg record low C = -14.5 |Feb avg record low C = -13.0 |Mar avg record low C = -11.2 |Apr avg record low C = -4.5 |May avg record low C = -0.8 |Jun avg record low C = 4.2 |Jul avg record low C = 7.4 |Aug avg record low C = 6.0 |Sep avg record low C = 1.8 |Oct avg record low C = -3.1 |Nov avg record low C = -6.2 |Dec avg record low C = -10.3 |year avg record low C = -17.5 |Jan record low C = -29.0 |Feb record low C = -34.1 |Mar record low C = -26.0 |Apr record low C = -17.0 |May record low C = -6.5 |Jun record low C = -3.0 |Jul record low C = 0.0 |Aug record low C = -0.5 |Sep record low C = -5.0 |Oct record low C = -14.0 |Nov record low C = -18.5 |Dec record low C = -25.5 |year record low C = -34.1 |precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation mm = 106.9 |Feb precipitation mm = 80.4 |Mar precipitation mm = 64.5 |Apr precipitation mm = 48.1 |May precipitation mm = 66.0 |Jun precipitation mm = 91.7 |Jul precipitation mm = 100.3 |Aug precipitation mm = 121.9 |Sep precipitation mm = 94.9 |Oct precipitation mm = 113.7 |Nov precipitation mm = 101.7 |Dec precipitation mm = 125.5 |year precipitation mm = |snow colour = green |Jan snow depth cm = 16 |Feb snow depth cm = 20 |Mar snow depth cm = 14 |Apr snow depth cm = 2 |May snow depth cm = 0 |Jun snow depth cm = 0 |Jul snow depth cm = 0 |Aug snow depth cm = 0 |Sep snow depth cm = 0 |Oct snow depth cm = 2 |Nov snow depth cm = 2 |Dec snow depth cm = 8 |year snow depth cm = 27 |source 1 = SMHI{{cite web | url =https://www.smhi.se/klimatdata/meteorologi/ladda-ner-meteorologiska-observationer/#param=airTemperatureMinAndMaxOnceEveryDay,stations=all,stationid=72450 | title =Open Data for Borås | publisher =Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute | language =sv | access-date =14 April 2019 | archive-date =11 April 2019 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20190411092753/https://www.smhi.se/klimatdata/meteorologi/ladda-ner-meteorologiska-observationer#param=airTemperatureMinAndMaxOnceEveryDay,stations=all,stationid=72450 | url-status =dead |source 2 = SMHI Monthly Data 2002–2020{{cite web |url = http://www.smhi.se/klimatdata/meteorologi/temperatur/2.1240 |title = Monthly & Yearly Data |publisher = SMHI |language = sv |date = 26 May 2021 |access-date = 18 March 2016 |archive-date = 22 December 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131222021222/http://www.smhi.se/klimatdata/meteorologi/temperatur/2.1240 |url-status = dead

Districts

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Municipal subdistrict Göta
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Municipal subdistrict Sjöbo
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Municipal subdistrict Brämhult
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Municipal subdistrict Norrby
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Municipal subdistrict Centrum (city)
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Municipal subdistrict Sandhult
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Gallery

Notable people

Johanna Almgren, Swedish footballer
Hans Alsér, a world champion of table tennis
Christer Björkman, singer and supervisor of Melodifestivalen
Camilla Brodin, member of parliament
Ingvar Carlsson, former prime minister
Magnus Carlsson, pop singer
Shirley Clamp, singer
AronChupa, singer and DJ
Evocation, Swedish Melodic Death Metal band
Peter Adolf Hall, painter
Birger Martin Hall, Linnaean disciple, botanist and doctor
Johan Hallgren, rower
Marcus Hansson, 1994 motocross world champion
Nils Horner, journalist
Ingrid Janbell, actress, director and lecturer
Jonas Jerebko, first ever Swedish NBA player
Wiktoria Johansson, pop singer
Patrik Järbyn, former alpine ski racer
George Kellgren, Firearms designer, inventor and founder of the American gun manufacturer Kel-Tec
Carolina Klüft, heptathlete
Ivan Lapanje, professional FIFA player, better known as BorasLegend
Martin Lorentzon, founder of Tradedoubler and Spotify.
Daniel Norgren, singer-songwriter
Tomas Olsson, ski mountaineer
Helena Paparizou, Greek-Swedish singer, winner of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest.
Apollo Papathanasio, heavy metal vocalist of Greek descent
Kurt Pettersén, an Olympic champion wrestler
Hans Rosenfeldt, writer, creator of The Bridge
Christoffer Schander, biologist and active science fiction fan
Helge Skoog, actor
Johan Wiland, Swedish footballer
Ola Wong, author, journalist and sinologist
Richard Yarsuvat, Swedish footballer
Raaban, DJ and music producer

Schools

High schools

Almåsgymnasiet
Bäckängsgymnasiet
Sven Eriksonsgymnasiet
Viskastrandsgymnasiet
Tullengymnasiet
Borås Praktiska Gymnasium
LBS: High School of Creativity

In popular culture

"Borås, Borås" is a song recorded by Knut Agnred. The song is a parody of Theme from New York, New York.
"The furies from Borås" is a novel by Swedish horror author Anders Fager. It deals with a group of teenage girls who are members of a cult worshipping a Lovecraftian monstrosity.

References

"Land and water area 1 January by region and type of area. Year 2012 - 2023". [[Statistics Sweden]].
"Population in the country, counties and municipalities on 31 December 2022 and Population Change in 2022".
(September 2022). "Borås". [[Oxford University Press]]}}{{dead link.
{{Cite Merriam-Webster. Borås
"Folkmängd och befolkningsförändringar - Kvartal 1, 2024".
"The Crown Princess celebrates Borås's 400th anniversary".
(15 October 2011). "Allt fler pendlar mellan Borås och Göteborg". Sveriges Radio.
(19 November 2020). "Finamasters.org".
Oakes, Peter. (1981). "1981 Speedway Yearbook". Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd.
"Player's portraits 2008". svenskfotboll.se.
"Official Website".
[[:sv:Johan Hallgren]]
"Marcus Hansson homepage". bubben.com.
(25 August 2009). "Detroit's Mr. Do-It-All". Interlink Magazines, LLC.
(2014). "Hans Rosenfeldt". World Conference of Screenwriters.

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