Gimo

Gimo — the heritage of an industrial works

Gimo in Östhammar Municipality, Uppsala County, is an industrial works community with deep roots in Swedish iron industry. The place name originates from Old Swedish gimmu, which refers to a narrower water outlet — a description of the topography that long shaped the daily life of Gimo's residents.

The Vallonbruk and Louis de Geer

In 1615, the Crown established the first furnaces in Gimo. In 1627, the works were leased to Louis de Geer, the powerful Amsterdam-based financier who would shape the iron industry throughout northern Uppland. De Geer purchased Gimo bruk in 1643 and brought Walloon forging expertise and capital. The Walloons — master craftsmen from present-day Belgium — introduced an iron production technique that, combined with the high quality of Dannemora ore, gave Swedish iron a world-renowned reputation. The De Geer family's ownership of Gimo extended until 1756, when the works were sold to John Jennings and Robert Finlay.

Gimo Manor — Jean Eric Rehn's masterpiece

During the 1760s, Robert Finlay commissioned architect Jean Eric Rehn to design a new manor house and develop a unified works plan for Gimo. Rehn — court architect and one of his era's most sought-after Swedish architects — created Gimo Manor with the main building completed in 1767. The whitewashed two-storey stone main building with its lower side wings, stable blocks and orangeries is one of Uppland's most distinguished Gustavian monuments. The manor operates today as a conference facility and hotel with 88 rooms and conference capacity for up to 150 people.

Contemporary Gimo — Sandvik and the industrial town's continuity

Today, Gimo, with just over 2,800 residents (2023), is an active industrial town. Sandvik Coromant, one of the world's leading manufacturers of hard metal cutting tools for machining, established operations in Gimo in 1951 and today employs approximately 1,500 people — the second-largest private employer in Uppsala County. The continuity of industry from the 1600s iron works to 21st-century advanced manufacturing is Gimo's proudest historical thread.

The Knutmasso tradition — a masked carnival held every year on January 13 — is Gimo's most popular festival and living evidence of the industrial community's spirit of solidarity. The Knutmasso Museum preserves historical masks and documents the carnival's history.

Visiting Gimo

The manor park around Gimo Manor offers beautiful walks, and the broader works environment provides an authentic picture of how a well-organized Walloon works was structured. Nearby lies Skäfthammar Church, consecrated in the 1400s, and Gimostenen — a runestone at Gimo dam — testifies to the area's prehistoric history.