Karlstad Municipality

For the American town Karlstad, see Karlstad, Minnesota.

Karlstad Municipality (pop. 82,096) is a municipality in mid-western Sweden with the city Karlstad (population 58. 055) as its seat. It was granted a Royal Charter in 1584. In the 17th century it was the seat of a diocese in the Church of Sweden. Today it has a university and a minor international airport. Karlstad lies on the mainline railway connecting Oslo, Norway, and Stockholm.

Geography

The municipality has a varying terrain.

The city of Karlstad is built on the islands and islets which make up the river delta on the northern shore of the largest lake in Sweden, Vänern. It has the second largest lake port in the country after Västerås.

History

On Karlstad's largest islet, there was a place of counsel called Tingvalla in the medieval age, which had roots from the Viking Age before 1000 AD. It was also used as a market place

Karlstad was granted its city right on March 5, 1584 by the Swedish Duke Charles, who would later be crowned King Charles IX of Sweden. The city also derived its name from the King – Karlstad literally means Karl's city. The Duke also granted Karlstad the right as a governmental seat in the region, and gave it a substantial amount of land.

The Duke also built his own mansion in the city, which is referred to as Kungsgården (The King's mansion). On its location, a Cathedral was built in 1724 - 1730 by Christian Haller.

Karlstad has been severely burnt four times. After the last fire on July 2, 1865, only the church and a few houses remained. It was thereafter rebuilt according to a check pattern with wide streets surrounded by trees.

The symbol

Karlstad officially adopted a sun as its symbol in 2000. It signifies both the sunny weather (Karlstad is often ranked among the top 5 Swedish cities for annual hours of sunshine) and also a famous waitress from the end of the 18th century known as Sola i Karlstad (The sun in Karlstad if translated from Värmlandska).

Allegedly the sun also signifies the friendly warmth of the inhabitants of Karlstad.

The coat of arms is today not used in any official context.

Notable natives

Sven-Erik Magnusson - singer/dance band artist (Sven-Ingvars)
Christer Sjögren - singer/dance band artist (Vikingarna)
Ulf Sterner - hockey player (first Swede in the NHL)

Sites of interest

Alsters herrgård, the manor house where Gustaf Fröding was born
Karlstad Cathedral, built in 1730
An indoor ice rink and event arena, expanded in 2002 to host the Ice Hockey World Championships.
Botanical gardens
The masonic lodge where the negotiations for the dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway were held in 1905.
A rune stone: one of four known in Värmland.
A history museum
A nature museum.

Sport and recreation

Ice hockey team Färjestads BK (home arena Löfbergs Lila Arena) has won the Swedish Championship several times, most recently in 2006.

Boltic-Göta is a club formed in 2000 by the merger of two of the historically most successful bandy clubs in Sweden, IF Boltic and IF Karlstad-Göta. Their home arena, Tingvalla Isstadion, is claimed to be Europe's largest artificially frozen area.

OK Tyr is one of the largest orienteering clubs in Sweden. OK Tyr won Tiomila in 1989 and 1990.

IF Göta have a number of international athletes. There is an outdoor athletics track at Tingvalla IP and an indoor track (200 m) in Våxnäshall. There are many sawdust jogging trails, some of which are lit.

Klarälvsbanan, a 90 km, asphalted railway line, runs from Karlstad to Hagfors. It is popular amongst cyclists, inlines skaters and roller skiers.

There are a large number of open-air bathing places, both in Vänern and other lakes in the municipality. Sundstabadet has a 25m indoor swimming pool.

Fishing and watersports are popular activities.

References

External links

Karlstad - Official site
Karlstad University
article Karlstad from Nordisk familjebok

Municipalities of Sweden | Municipalities of Värmland County

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