Sjöbo Municipality

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This page deals with both Sjöbo Municipality and the urban area (tätort) Sjöbo

**Sjöbo Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Sjöbo in Skåne Map outlining the municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Sjöbo
	{{{locationReadable}}}
	County	Skåne County
	Province	Scania
	Area Rank	495 km² 174th of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	17,404 x of 290
	Population density	35/km²

Sjöbo Municipality is a Swedish municipality in Skåne in southernmost Sweden where the market town Sjöbo (pop. 6,000) is seat.

[edit] History

Sjöbo started growing when it became a halt on the railway between Malmö (to the west) and Simrishamn (on the east) in the early 19th century. Today the town can not be reached by rail, but a road through central Skåne also crosses the municipality and town, while another large road from east to west also crosses it.

Sjöbo is one of the municipalities created during the municipal reform in the 1970s.

[edit] Refugee controversy

The municipality reached into the publics eye in 1988 by declaring reluctant to accept refugees, after a referendum gave a majority of 67% votes. Most other municipalities in Sweden accepted refugees that came from troubled countries such as former Yugoslavia and Iraq.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was an immigration crisis in Sweden. The number of asylum seekers increased, and the share of Nordics among newcomers fell from two-thirds to one-third. High unemployment and the fiscal burdens on local governments which were obliged to integrate refugees, and the refusal of the city of Sjobo to accept refugees in 1987, led to the adoption of a combined immigration and integration system in the Aliens Act of 1989. ^[1]

The streets are long and straight in Sjöbo town

The Old Church of Södra Åsum, just north of Sjöbo town

[edit] Geography

The town of Sjöbo is flat terrained with many small houses and three long strait streets stretching through it, leading to larger roads.

Within the limits of the municipality lays the main part of Vombsjön, which is the largest lake of southern Skåne and notable for being the water source of Malmö. Located in north western municipality, some parts belong to Lund Municipality. It offers fishing for European perch, pike, pikeperch and eel.

[edit] Activities

There are at least five (largely) authentic medieval churches from the 12th century in the municipality (in Södra Åsum, Tolånga, Björka, Blentarp and Everlöv). They are notable for not having undergone severe restorations that were suffered by many others churches in Scania once the population began growing in the second half of 19th century and Helgo Zetterwall was hired to expand on them.

Frescos which adorned the apse of Södra Åsum church and the ceilings of the churches in Everlöv and Illstrop centuries ago have been slowly uncovered in recent years. Many churchs such as there had their ornamentation stripped and their paintings plastered over as part of the iconoclasm of Sweden's adoption of Lutheranism.

Apart from religious activities, there is the annual festival Sjöbo marknad , translate to Sjöbo fair, that was first held in 1864, and is now held in late July, attracting some 100,000 visitors; one of the largest country fairs in Sweden. It has carousels and is otherwise noted for its pottery commerce.

[edit] References

^ from Migration News, in what looks to be a review on the book Mechanisms of Immigration Control. A Comparative Analysis of European Regulation Policies, by Brochmann, Grete and Tomas Hammar. (Eds. 1999) Berg Publishers (http://www.berg.demon.co.uk/)

Info about Sjöbo Refugee question from a Nationalistic website: Sweden the exterme Way From bgf.nu
Geography & Activities: Tourist broshure Sjöbo Kommun, (2005), available at the tourist office in Swedish English and German.