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Karlstad
Karlstad Town Square
Karlstad
Coordinates: 59°23′N 13°32′E / 59.383°N 13.533°E / 59.383; 13.533Coordinates: 59°23′N 13°32′E / 59.383°N 13.533°E / 59.383; 13.533
Country	Sweden
Province	Värmland
County	Värmland County
Municipality	Karlstad Municipality
Area [1]
- Total	29.92 km2 (11.6 sq mi)
Population (2005-12-31)[1]
- Total	58,544
- Density	1,956/km2 (5,066/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Karlstad is a city, the seat of Karlstad Municipality and the capital of Värmland County in Sweden. The city had 58,544 inhabitants in 2005^[1] out of a municipal that in 2008 had total of 83,994 inhabitants. Karlstad has a University and a Cathedral.

Karlstad is built on the river delta where Sweden's longest river, Klarälven, runs into Sweden's largest lake, Vänern. It has the second largest lake port in the country after Västerås.

Karlstad is often associated with sunshine and the symbol for Karlstad is a happy sun. Karlstad is reputed to be one of the sunniest towns in Sweden and a local waitress, known as "Sola i Karlstad" (Sun in Karlstad) for her sunny disposition, is also commemorated with a statue.

[edit] History

Statue of Charles XI of Sweden

Illustration of Karlstad's road network; its cathedral; the governor's residence

Karlstad Cathedral

Statue of Sola i Karlstad, next to Klarälven

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 charter on March 5, 1584 by the Swedish Duke Charles, who would later be crowned King Charles IX of Sweden. The city derives its name from the King – Karlstad literally means Charles' 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 built his own house in the city, which is referred to as Kungsgården (The King's Manor). Karlstad's Cathedral was built on the location Kungsgården in 1724 - 1730 by Christian Haller.

A significant coup d'état of modern Swedish history had its beginning in Karlstad. During the night of 7 March 1809, Georg Adlersparre used the part of the western army that was stationed in Värmland to occupy Karlstad. From there he officially proclaimed a revolution, and during 9 March, he and his soldiers began their successful march toward the capital to end the reign of king Gustav IV Adolf.

Karlstad has suffered four major fires. Only the cathedral and a few houses remained after the last fire on July 2, 1865. Karlstad was thereafter rebuilt according to a grid pattern with wide streets surrounded by trees.

In 1905, the agreement to dissolve the union between Norway and Sweden was negotiated and signed in Karlstad.

[edit] Politics

Municipalities are responsible for government-mandated duties, and elections for the Municipal council are held every four years, parallel to the general elections.

Following the municipal election in 2006, the seats are divided in the following way^[2]:

[edit] Economy

[edit] Education

Several upper secondary schools (gymnasium) offer the most common range of courses usually available throughout Sweden, including the IB Diploma Programme. The majority of students in Värmland need to commute or move to Karlstad for their upper secondary education.^{[citation needed]} Tertiary education is offered by Karlstad University, which was granted university status in 1999.

[edit] Culture

[edit] Sports and recreation

The ice hockey team Färjestads BK (home arena Löfbergs Lila Arena) has won the Swedish Championship several times, most recently in 2009. Karlstad is also represented in the 1st Division of ice hockey (3rd highest level) by the team Skåre BK.

The International Ice Hockey Federation announced that the 2010 Men's World Inline Hockey Championships will be hosted by Karlstad. Lofbergs Lila Arena will be the primary site of the tournament.

Boltic-Göta is a bandy 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.

Carlstad United, a football club founded in 1998, is playing in the 1st Division of football (3rd highest level).

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 and host the annual athletics meet Götagalan. 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 25 m indoor swimming pool.

The Swedish Rally, with world championship status, is held annually in Värmland and Karlstad is a regular host of start, finish and special stages.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] International relations

[edit] Twin towns — Sister cities

Karlstad is twinned with:

• Gaziantep, Turkey

• Jõgeva in Estonia^[3]

[edit] See also

• Karlstad University
• Karlstad Cathedral
• Karlstad Airport

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Media related to Karlstad at Wikimedia Commons
• Official site

Karlstad is one of 133 places with the historical city status in Sweden.

v • d • e Municipalities and seats of Värmland County Municipalities Årjäng · Arvika · Eda · Filipstad · Forshaga · Grums · Hagfors · Hammarö · Karlstad · Kil · Kristinehamn · Munkfors · Säffle · Storfors · Sunne · Torsby Municipal seats Årjäng · Arvika · Charlottenberg · Filipstad · Forshaga · Grums · Hagfors · Karlstad · Kil · Kristinehamn · Munkfors · Säffle · Skoghall · Storfors · Sunne · Torsby Counties of Sweden · Sweden

v • d • e Administrative seats of Swedish counties (län) Falun • Gävle • Gothenburg • Halmstad • Jönköping • Kalmar • Karlskrona • Karlstad • Linköping • Luleå • Malmö • Nyköping • Örebro • Östersund • Stockholm • Sundsvall • Umeå • Uppsala • Västerås • Växjö • Visby

v • d • e 50 most populous urban areas in the Nordic countries  Denmark ·  Finland ·  Iceland ·  Norway ·  Sweden 1.  Stockholm 1,252,000 2.  Copenhagen 1,167,569 3.  Helsinki 1,027,635 4.  Oslo 876,391 5.  Gothenburg 510,500 6.  Malmö 258,000 7.  Turku 248,598 8.  Århus 228,700 9.  Bergen 227,752 10.  Tampere 209,748 11.  Reykjavík 195,000 12.  Stavanger 189,828 13.  Trondheim 160,072 14.  Odense 152,100 15.  Uppsala 144,839 16.  Oulu 137,370 17.  Jyväskylä 128,114 18.  Aalborg 122,461 19.  Västerås 107,000 20.  Fredrikstad 101,698 21.  Lahti 100,444 22.  Örebro 98,200 23.  Linköping 97,400 24.  Drammen 96,563 25.  Kuopio 91,845 26.  Helsingborg 91,500 27.  Kouvola 88,396 28.  Skien 86,923 29.  Jönköping 84,400 30.  Norrköping 83,600 31.  Pori 75,562 32.  Lund 76,200 33.  Umeå 75,600 34.  Joensuu 72,167 35.  Esbjerg 71,900 36.  Lappeenranta 70,210 37.  Gävle 68,700 38.  Kristiansand 67,547 39.  Hämeenlinna 66,257 40.  Borås 63,400 41.  Södertälje 60,300 42.  Eskilstuna 60,200 43.  Randers 59,842 44.  Rovaniemi 59,274 45.  Vaasa 58,607 46.  Täby 58,593 47.  Karlstad 58,500 48.  Seinäjoki 56,578 49.  Kolding 56,249 50.  Halmstad 55,688