Sigtuna

Sigtuna is a town in the Swedish province of Stockholm County and the historic province of Uppland.

It is located about 50 km north- west of Stockholm on Sigtunafjärden, a branch of Lake Mälaren in the municipality of the same name, but is not its main town.

History

Sigtuna applies in addition to Lund as the oldest existing city in Sweden. Excavations suggest that it was founded in 980 by King Erik Segersäll. Under the king Olof Skötkonung and his son Jacob Anund the first Swedish coins 995-1030 were beaten in Sigtuna. Sigtuna was at that time the center of the growing central power. In the mid-11th century Sigtuna became a bishop and began the construction of a cathedral. Soon Sigtuna had seven churches, and in 1247 a Dominican monastery was inaugurated in Sigtuna.

In the mid-12th century the bishopric was moved to Östra Aros (Uppsala ), yet Sigtuna remained an important city until the end of the 13th century. However, with the development of the cities of Uppsala and Stockholm lost Sigtuna in the late Middle Ages in importance.

With the Reformation in the 16th century, the monastery was demolished and the churches - except for one - to decay. Sigtuna stagnated, the population decreased and the churches fell into disrepair. In the 19th century Sigtuna has been described in the literature as a small, God- forgotten place with romantic, overgrown ruins.

Only at the beginning of the 20th century there was a turning point. Sigtuna became a university and conference town, after a number of schools, but also state schools were moved here. Even the tourists discovered the town. The construction of the nearby airport Stockholm- Arlanda contributed to the economic boom.

Cityscape

Sigtuna has retained the character of an idyllic garden city of the turn of the century. The center is equipped with small residential and commercial buildings of wood, which date from the 18th and 19th centuries, built on. To the west of the city center are some educational institutions in the classical style of the 1920s.

Attractions

  • The main downtown street ( Stora Gatan ) has many brightly painted wooden houses from the 18th and 19th century
  • The Sigtuna Museum preserves and exhibits valuable medieval finds from Sweden's history. Its origin goes back to a company that in 1916 the Foundation.
  • In the city there are more than a dozen rune stones and fragments.
  • St Mary's Church from the 13th century as an early example of brick Gothic architecture in the region
  • The high medieval church ruins of St. Olof, St Lars and St Per

Gallery

St. Mary's Church as an example of Brick Gothic

The Stora Gatan

Runestone in Sigtuna

Swell

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