Ljungby
Ljungby () is the central locality of Ljungby Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden, with 15,785 inhabitants in 2015. Ljungby was instituted in 1829 as a köping, or market town, and did not become a municipality of its own when the first local government acts took effect in 1863, but retained part of the surrounding rural municipality of the same name. In 1936 Ljungby got the title stad, Swedish for Town or City. Since 1971 Ljungby is the seat of Ljungby Municipality. Much of the town center was destroyed in the city fire of 1953. At the time of the rebuilding, the modern style used, characterized by among other Hotel Terazza, still remains controversial locally. History The first known inhabitant of the area that is today's Ljungby was Astrad, as can be read on the runestone Replösastenen from the 11th century located a couple of kilometers from the city center. The runestone says: "Götrad made this stone after Astrad, the foremost of kinsmen and yeomen (Swedish:odalmän) who in Finnveden formerly lived". In 1952 a statue by John Lundqvist was erected near the main plaza depicting Astrad and Götrad. But there were other people living around Ljungby long before Astrad and Götrad as