Arvika Stadspark

During the latter half of the 19th century, it became fashionable to establish green spaces for public use. Arvika’s first city park was located where the music school stands today (at the west end of the centre). At the time, the area of today's town park mostly consisted of warehouses and storage buildings, but in 1911, to celebrate Arvika's new city priviliges, a large industrial, craft, and art exhibition was held. After the exhibition, all the exhibition halls were sold. The event highlighted the need for a public meeting place, and Carl Herman Granqvist, the Director of Parks and City Gardener of Karlstad, was commissioned to design a proposal for a city park. By 1913, the park was fully completed.

The pergola in the city park is unique in Scandinavia. Covered in Virginia creeper, it measures 82 metres in length, making it the longest pergola in Scandinavia and one the longest in Northern Europe.

Along the walkway between the bird pond and Kattviken, silver willows were planted, and the path was named "Silver Avenue" (Silverallé).

The park is dominated by a vast collection of trees, several of which were planted following the Arvika Exhibition of 1911. The park achieved its final design in 1913. It is renowned for its distinctive pergola, artworks, and above all, the magnificent display of flowers in the summer. It was awarded the price for the most beautiful town parc in Sweden in 2019.

Arvika’s flower programme is updated annually, often based on various themes. Thousands of bulbs are planted each autumn in the city park. Together with pansies and spring-flowering trees like magnolias, cherry trees, and purple-leaf crabapples, they transform the park into a colourful spectacle that delights locals and visitors alike. In June, the spring bloom is succeeded by a rich variety of summer flowers, cultivated in the municipality’s own greenhouse.