HOLMENS BRUKS OCH FABRIKS AKTIEBOLAG
NORRKÖPING
SWEDEN
Holmen Paper Company
Gothenburg : Esselte , 1932, 95 p. ; 29,5 cm
SECOND EDITION
ENGLISH / FRANÇAIS / ESPAÑOL
Holmens Bruk originated in a state-owned arms factory in 1609 for the manufacture of armor and drilling of musket and pistol barrels. This was built on Kvarnholmen by Motala ström in Norrköping. From the 1620s, the business was led by Louis De Geer , who, among other things, started a brass mill, which soon became a leader in Sweden. In addition to the brass mill, clothing production, milling, fishing and bar iron production were also run, and from 1633 paper production at a hand paper mill. This paper mill burned down in 1643 and was never rebuilt.
During the ravages of the Russians in 1719, most of Holmen's facilities were destroyed, as was almost all of Norrköping. The gate tower into the mill area, the so-called holment tower, was not rebuilt until 1750 and then got the look it still has today.
Brass production came to dominate Holmen's mill's operations until the end of the 18th century, when international sales became more difficult. Instead, paper production, which began on a small scale in 1806, gradually became the main business. The production of paper was mechanized in the 1830s with the first paper machine being installed in 1837. It was not until the 1860s, when the wood grinding method was introduced, that the company began to expand faster.
In 1854, the same year that Holmens Bruk was transformed into a limited company under the name Holmens Bruks och Fabriks AB, the business was expanded with textile manufacturing. To begin with, this consisted of a cotton spinning mill, but later also to include wool fabrication. Under the leadership of Holmens Bruk's main owner, the Wahren family, the company expanded rapidly from the beginning of the 20th century. In 1915, a new paper mill was built in Hallstavik in Uppland with a capacity of 30,000 tonnes of paper / year. The paper and textile industry inside Norrköping was also expanded. After acquiring Förenade Yllefabrikerna AB (YFA) in 1926, where it had been the largest partner since 1917, Holmens Bruk became Norrköping's dominant industry.
Holmentornet - Holmen Tower - is a building in Industrilandskapet in central Norrköping which is also the symbol of Holmens Bruk and Norrköping's industrial heritage.
The tower has its current design since 1750 when it was rebuilt (architect Johan Georg Strubel) after the Russian ravages in 1719 in the city during the Great Nordic War. Its original function was partly to clearly demarcate the mill area from the rest of the city, and partly it housed the mill's offices and archives.
Holmentornet has been a building monument since 1990.
Most of today's buildings were built during the period 1850 - 1920 , but the industrial history of the area began in the early 17th century and has had various activities.
From the 1960s to the beginning of the 2000s, the industrial area along the Motala stream underwent a transformation that meant that it went from being a place for product manufacturing to being associated with a historical epoch in the history of Sweden and Norrköping. The name Industrilandskapet was first established around 1990, when the area had begun to be regarded as an industrial cultural heritage. During the 1990s the industries in the area were replaced by university.