The Thousand-Year Theatre
A circular space walled by clipped elms.
User Jorchr on sv.wikipedia — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Johan Jönsson (Julle) — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Johan Jönsson (Julle) — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Johan Jönsson (Julle) — CC BY-SA 4.0
Pildammsparken is Malmo's largest park at close to forty-five hectares, and its origin was not ornamental: the two large ponds at its centre were the city's drinking water reservoirs, dug in the seventeenth century, hence the name meaning the willow-pond park. It became a public park in the 1930s with a design combining free English planting and strict geometric forms. Its best-known element is the Thousand-Year Theatre: a sunken circular space ringed by rows of precisely clipped elms forming a living wall, used for summer concerts and giving the feeling of standing inside a roofless hall. The rest is wide lawns, running paths around both ponds, a rose garden, a seasonal cafe and playgrounds. It is emphatically a residents' park — family gatherings, summer barbecues, skating on the frozen pond in a hard winter — about twenty minutes' walk south of the city centre.
A circular space walled by clipped elms.
Running and walking loops round the historic reservoirs.
Pildammsparken, 214 34 Malmo
Malmo KonsthallMalmo Konsthall is one of northern Europe's largest contemporary art halls, open9 minutes walk4.3
MöllevångstorgetMöllan, as people in Malmö call it, is an open market square south of the centre13 minutes walk4.1
Malmö City LibraryMalmö's library is three buildings in one, and that is the reason to visit: the 14 minutes walk4.8
SlottsparkenSlottsparken runs around **Malmöhus** Castle and its moat, and is the oldest in 16 minutes walk4.8
Folkets ParkSweden's oldest people's park, created in the late nineteenth century on the ini18 minutes walk4.3Walk south from Gustav Adolfs torg about twenty minutes along Regementsgatan, or take a short bus. Malmo is a serious cycling city and completely flat, so hiring a bike from a public station makes it a five-minute trip and lets you link the park with Kungsparken and the castle in one circuit.