Wallander's Ystad

Wallander’s Ystad

The tourist brochures depict Ystad as an idyllic location with sandy beaches, half-timbered houses and cobbled alleys edged with hollyhocks. But there’s also a darker version of this tranquil town on the south coast of Skåne. Henning Mankell portrays a very different Ystad in his Kurt Wallander books. Here, cold-blooded killers live on the peacefully-named Harmonigatan, right in the heart of the town.

Detective Chief Inspector Kurt Wallander is passionate about his work, opera and whisky.

Having put his job before his family, he approaches his investigations with a zeal which precludes any real private life. But despite his unhealthy eating habits and his pitiful love life, he comes across as an amiable antihero with a rare talent for solving exceptionally brutal murders, and has been translated into 40 different languages.

Detective Chief Inspector Wallander in on his home turf inYstad. St Mary’s Church in the background is a prominent feature of both the fictional skyline and the real town. Photo:skane.com©sydpol.com

Through the books and films, we can follow Wallander’s life over a period of more than twenty years, from his debut as a recently-divorced man going through a midlife crisis in Faceless Killers (1991) through to his more domesticated life as a sixty-year-old. Mankell depicts an Ystad police force facing the constant challenges of a changing society, and this is a key narrative element. Not only is Wallander confronted with criminality, he also has to contend with political forces, female oppression, racism and terrorism.

One big Wallander set

It’s during the autumn and the spring that Wallander’s Ystad is truly at its best, when the mist lies low along the beach at Nybrostrand – perfect for an atmospheric stroll along the coast or through the streets of Ystad. Then drop in at Fridolfs Konditori on St Knuts Torg for a Wallander cake, or go on a guided tour of the town.

Fridolfs Konditori is where Wallander eats herring sandwiches for lunch. Drop in and enjoy a cup of coffee with a good book, or go the whole hog and try a Wallander cake. Photo:skane.com©sydpol.com

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The Hotel Continental, where Wallander often has his dinner at the corner table facing Hamngatan, is Sweden’s oldest hotel. Sekelgården, Bäckagården and Ystads Saltsjöbad are other accommodation options which feature in the Wallander novels and films. Hamngatan is also home to Bröderna M, Wallander’s local pizzeria, which – in keeping with his new lifestyle – now offers a selection of healthier lunches.

Anything can happen when you follow in Wallander’s footsteps, so don’t be surprised if you actually see the man himself on the streets of Ystad during a visit here! Photo:skane.com©sydpol.com

The heart of Ystad, Stortorget – with the historic St Mary’s Church and the magnificent Old Town Hall – really is one big Wallander set. The square features in several of the films.

Here, the filmmakers took a bit of a liberty with the location of the Sparbanken bank: for the film Byfånen (“The Village Idiot”), the branch was shifted from the corner to the middle of the square in order to create a spectacular explosion following a bank robbery. It was also here on the main square that Wallander bid Anja farewell, had difficulties with the bill at Lotta’s, and left his dinner at Le Cardinal for a serious talk with his daughter Linda in the film Before the Frost.

Sit in Wallander’s seat

Although Wallander has moved home in the latest films, it is Mariagatan which remains his best-known address. According to the books he lives at number 10, but it’s the entrance to Mariagatan 11C which will be familiar from the films. The street is just a stone’s throw away from the former military area which is now home to the Film University of Ystad, Ystad Studios and Cineteket, along with a number of media companies.

If you really want to get behind the scenes from the films – or even step into them – Wallander’s police station at Sixten Sparres Gata 1 is a must-see. Here you can find out about the work of the fictional Ystad police, sit in Wallander’s office chair and see original props and costumes from the Swedish and British films. The police station also has information about 39 Wallander films and the five actors (almost as many as James Bond!) to have stepped into his shoes, from Krister Henriksson to Kenneth Branagh – the latter of whom has, played Wallander in the English-language films for the BBC.

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At Cineteket you can experience trick filming, step into Kurt Wallander’s living room and read film scripts. You can also watch short films and book activities such as visits to the set of Wallander’s police station or a film safari.

Photo:skane.com© Chris Maris

You can book a visit to the police station through Cineteket, Ystad’s experience centre for film. Here you can see how a Swedish feature-length film is made, leaf through scripts and step through Wallander’s front door from the films. Visitors of all ages can experience trick filming, try their hand at animation and watch short films. Next to the experience centre is a film gallery showing temporary exhibitions relating to the silver screen.

In Wallander’s footsteps

During the summer months there are plenty of Wallander-related activities going on. The Ystad Volunteer Fire Brigade offers Wallander tours on a vintage fire engine, while Mysterier i Farten organises murder mystery tours around the town. For sportier Wallander fans, there’s even an annual 6 km Wallander Race, which passes many of the locations mentioned in the books. Of course, you can also explore Wallander’s Ystad at your own pace using the tourist information office’s map of locations from the books and the films.

There’s plenty to discover if you want to venture beyond Ystad itself. After all, one distinctive feature of the Wallander stories – apart from the gruesome murders and the protagonist’s dismal private life – is the vivid descriptions of the surrounding countryside. It is along the winding roads around Lake Krageholmssjön, northwest of Ystad, that a number of the fictional victims have been found. South of Dag Hammarskjöld’s Backåkra, in Hagestad Nature Reserve near Löderup, a murderer arranges the victims’ bodies into a macabre picnic scene in One Step Behind, creating a sense of déjà vu as you make your way through the remarkable coastal forest glades.

Wallander restaurants

Vendel Ales Stenar in Kåseberga has doubled as a number of settings, including Wallander’s office in the BBC films and part of the luxurious Soldala in Luftslottet (“Castle in the Air”). In real life, this is a newly-opened organic bakery and summertime grill, close to Ales Stenar – the Swedish equivalent of Stonehenge.

Another location which fans of the Wallander films will want to visit is Ingelstorp, a guest house and restaurant in the village of the same name to the west of Ystad. The former garage now houses a restaurant with such a stylish interior that it doubled as a Copenhagen bar in the British film of One Step Behind. Ingelstorp is the perfect blend of modern and traditional, in terms of both the décor and the menu.

Svarte and Mossbystrand, west of Ystad, are also Wallander settings which are well-worth a visit in their own rights.

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Whether you head for recreation areas, castles or flea markets, following in Wallander’s footsteps will allow you to find your own favourite locations. As fiction and reality merge into one, almost anything could happen. Skåne is a magical place where the Baltic breezes meet the winds of Europe, and is bound to enchant both bookworms and film-lovers. Who knows where your footsteps might lead?

Anna Maris is a journalist, project manager and lecturer. She specialises in projects relating to film, language and tourism, and lives on a farm between Ystad and Tomelilla.

Henning Mankell

Henning Mankell was born in Stockholm in 1948, but despite having grown up amid the forest of central Sweden, the writer fell in love with the wide open spaces of Skåne. Mankell made his literary debut in 1973, but it would be almost twenty years before his real breakthrough came with the first Wallander novel, Faceless Killers, in 1991. The book was originally intended to be a stand-alone detective novel, but during the 1990s a new Wallander work appeared nearly every year. Today, the ten Wallander books have been translated into more than 40 languages and can be found on bookshelves in more than a 100 different countries.

Over the years, Mankell has won a number awards for his writing, including the Swedish Publishers’ Association’s August Prize, the Astrid Lindgren Prize and the Tutzing Academy’s Tolerance Award.

For more information about Henning Mankell: www.henningmankell.com www.leopardforlag.se www.randomhouse.co.uk www.kurtwallander.co.uk www.yellowbird.se www.cineteket.se

German fan site:

www.wallander-web.de

English fan site:

www.inspector-wallander.org/

Hotels

Hotel Continental www.hotelcontinental-ystad.se Ystad Saltsjöbad www.ystadssaltsjobad.se Hotell Sekelgården www.sekelgarden.se Hotell Bäckagården www.backagarden.nu

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Restaurants

Bröderna M www.brodernam.se Lottas Restaurang www.lottas.se Ingelstorp www.ingelstorp.com Vendel Ales Stenar Mötesplats Österlen www.vendelrestauranger.se

Miscellaneous

Cineteket www.cineteket.se Ystad Municipality www.ystad.se Dag Hammarskjöld’s Backåkra www.ystad.se/Ystadweb.nsf/...

Ystads Allehanda – Wallander’s Ystad www.ystadsallehanda.se/apps/pbcs.dll/...

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