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'Karlstad' is a city (population 86,000) in Värmland, Sweden and the seat of Karlstad Municipality and the capital of Värmland County. Karlstad has a University and a Cathedral.
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.

Contents

History

Sport and recreation

Education

External links

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

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 25 m indoor swimming pool.
Fishing and watersports are popular activities.
Karlstad residential connectivity is a world record at 40GB/s.
Karlstad is also the home of Karlstads Rugby Klubb. Although rugby is not a major sport in Sweden, the club is growing in stature amongst the local community. The club also attract several experienced players from rugby popular countries abroad each year to live in Karlstad for the summer whilst playing and coaching at the rugby club. www.karstadsrugbyklubb.com

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. Tertiary education is offered by Karlstad University, which was granted university status in 1999.

External links

★ Official site