Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province

Värmland Värmland () is a ''Provinces of Sweden, landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Name Several Latinized version ...

in Sweden. The

city proper A city proper is the geographical area contained within city limits. The term ''proper'' is not exclusive to city, cities; it can describe the geographical area within the boundaries of any given locality. The United Nations defines the term as " ...

had 67,122 inhabitants in 2020 with 97,233 inhabitants in the wider municipality in 2023, and is the 21st largest

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in Sweden. Karlstad has a

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

and a

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

. During recent years, Karlstad has started seeing big growth with many new buildings, for example the new apartment complexes around Orrholmen and Tullholmen, hosting a brand new Coop store and a 17 story high rise apartment which was finished in late 2022. 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 Västerås () is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 158,653, over 100,000 mo ...

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

History

On Karlstad's largest islet, there was a place of counsel called Tingvalla in the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

age, which had roots from the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

before 1000 AD. It was also used as a market place. Statue of Charles IX of Sweden

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. Then most significant coup d'état in modern Swedish history had its beginning in Karlstad. During the night of 7 March 1809, major general Georg Adlersparre used the part of the western army that was stationed in Värmland to occupy Karlstad. From there officially proclaimed a revolution, and during 9 March, he and his soldiers began their 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.

Demographics

Language

The official language, Swedish, is the native language of a large majority and also spoken by most people in Karlstad. Immigration has also established five notable minority languages: *

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

* Somali *

Sorani Central Kurdish, also known as Sorani Kurdish, is a Kurdish dialect or a language spoken in Iraq, mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan in western Iran. Central Kurdish is one of the ...

* Persian *

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

; Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian (in practice treated as one language).

Religion

Karlstad has several Christian denominations, including the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

, with notable churches such as the Karlstad Cathedral built in 1730. In the 1800s, a small

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

community formed in Karlstad and built a

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

in 1899, which was demolished in 1961.

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 Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

Tertiary education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

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

Media

Värmlands Folkblad and Nya Wermlands-Tidningen are both located in Karlstad, with county-wide circulations.

Sports and recreation

Winter sports

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

is a highly popular spectator sport in Karlstad. The most popular club is Färjestad BK. The team plays in the '' Swedish Hockey League'' (SHL, highest level) and their home arena is Löfbergs Arena. The club has won the Swedish Championship several times, most recently in 2022, and is the most successful ice hockey club in Sweden since the foundation of Elitserien (Swedish Hockey League since 2013) in 1975. Several other ice hockey clubs exist and Karlstad is also represented in the 1st Division of ice hockey (3rd highest level) by the team Skåre BK. The 2010 Men's World Inline Hockey Championships was also hosted by Karlstad, with Löfbergs Arena as the primary site of the tournament. Traditionally,

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

has been the most popular winter sport in Karlstad, and the city is the home of two of the historically most successful clubs in Sweden, IF Boltic and IF Karlstad-Göta. Boltic reached 10 Swedish finals in a row from 1979 to 1988. They won the first 7 and the one in 1988. They also won in 1995. In 2000, the two clubs merged into BS BolticGöta. The first team again played as IF Boltic since the winter 2008/2009. After a successful season in '' Allsvenskan'' 2009/2010 the team qualified for '' Elitserien'', but was again relegated for the 2011/2012 season. Boltic's general meeting decided in 2014 to take back the club's old name IF Boltic. And Karlstad-Göta does not have a bandy team anymore. The home arena of Boltic, Tingvalla Ice Stadium, built in 1967, was claimed to be one of Northern Europe's largest artificially frozen areas. The outdoor stadium was demolished in 2020 and converted into an indoor rink, inaugurated in 2022. While one of many indoor bandy arenas, it is Sweden's only indoor speed skating arena. Afghans living in Karlstad has taken a liking to bandy and set up an Afghanistan national bandy team, which is based in the city. Karlstad is a regular host of start, finish and special stages for the Swedish Rally. The competition has world championship status and is held annually in

Summer sports

Several football clubs exist. QBIK was founded in 1978, and entered the premier division of women's football, '' Damallsvenskan'', in 2005. The team currently plays in the 1st Division (2nd highest level), but has several players in the Swedish national team. Their home ground is Tingvalla IP, and the facility was also the home ground for the football team Karlstad BK, that played in the men's Division 1 Norra (3rd highest level), having gained promotion following a successful 2010 season. The third highest-ranking football team was Carlstad United. The club was founded in 1998 by an alliance of seven local football clubs, with the aim of providing Karlstad with an elite football team. The club was accepted by the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) in 1999 and the team played in the men's Division 2 Norra Götaland (4th highest level). Carlstad United and Karlstad BK ended up merging into IF Karlstad Fotboll, who compete in Division 1 Norra. Another club from Karlstad is FBK Karlstad, who currently play in Division 1.

Motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

takes place at the Kalvholmen Motorbana, situated in the southeast outskirts of the city. The team is called Solkatterna (the Sun Cats), who compete in the Swedish Speedway Team Championship.

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

is also played on Tingvalla IP. The Carlstad Crusaders play in '' Superserien'', the highest level and since the founding of the club in 1990, the team has attended eight finals, winning its first championship in 2010. Karlstad is also famous for athletics. The club IF Göta has 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 Våxnäshallen. Another prominent sports club in Karlstad is OK Tyr, one of the largest

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that involve using a map and compass to navigation, navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specia ...

clubs in Sweden. OK Tyr won Tiomila in 1989 and 1990.

Public facilities

Public sports facilities in Karlstad include Klarälvsbanan, a cycle path on a former railway line running north from Karlstad to Hagfors. It is popular with cyclists, inlines skaters and roller skiers. There is also a large number of open-air beaches and bathing spots by Vänern, smaller lakes and Klarälven in the municipality, and a indoor municipal swimming pool. Many wood-chip jogging trails, some of which are lit, can be found in the city outskirts. During wintertime, several are used for

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

Economy

In 2023, Karlstads BVP per capita was 623 thousand Swedish crowns, about 20% above the national average at the time. Karlstad has a relatively strong IT sector and a number of IT consulting companies – CombinedX, Sogeti, CGI Inc., Tieto. Telia Group has a global network operation center in the city.

Climate

Karlstad has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

('' Dfb'') with influence from the surrounding waters of Vänern and the inflow from the Atlantic Ocean. It has large differences between seasons and is moderately influenced by both marine and land airflows. The highest recorded temperature since 1901 is 34.0°C (93.2°F) in July 1933 and the lowest is -36.0°C (-32.8°F) from February 1966.

Notable residents

* Adam Alsing, radio and television host * Gustaf Bengtsson, musician and composer * Jonas Brodin, National Hockey League ice hockey player * Niklas Edin, 2013 World Men's Curling Champion * JH Engström, contemporary photographer * Joel Eriksson Ek,

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player, Ice Hockey World Championship winner * Nils Ferlin, poet * Jenny Fransson, wrestler * Gustaf Fröding, poet * Stefan Holm, high jumper, 2004 Olympic gold medalist * Oscar Klefbom, ice hockey player * Anders Kulläng, rally driver * Zarah Leander, UFA actress * Lina Länsberg, professional mixed martial artist and two times gold medalist in the IFMA World Championship in Muay Thai * Martin Molin, composer, inventor, and member of the band Wintergatan * Jan Nilsson, racing driver * Thomas Rhodin,

player (four times Swedish Champion with Färjestads BK) * Christer Sjögren, rock/ dansband singer ( Vikingarna) * Ulf Sterner,

player (first European schooled player to play in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

) * Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky, racing driver

Twin towns – sister cities

Karlstad is twinned with: *

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

, Norway *

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

, Finland * Horsens, Denmark * Jõgeva, Estonia * Blönduós, Iceland * Gaziantep, Turkey

Image gallery

File:Karlstad Cathedral.JPG, Karlstad Cathedral File:Karlstad from Klaraborgsbron.JPG, Karlstad from the Klaraborg Bridge File:Sola i Karlsta 2008.jpg, Statue of ''Sola i Karlstad'', next to Klarälven File:Älvgatan på andra sidan älven.JPG, Wooden houses that survived the fire in 1865 File:Karlstad Teatern (Värmlandsoperan).JPG, Karlstad Theatre, a theatre and the home of the ''Wermland Opera'' File:East bridge karlstad 20061022 002.jpg, The East Bridge File:Carlarnas sluss.jpg, ''Carlarnas sluss'', a lock from the early 19th century File:Karlstad Biskopsgården.JPG, The Bishops House File:Värmlands Museum by night.jpg, ''Värmland Museum'' by night File:Värmlands museum.JPG, The new part of Värmland Museum File:Tingvalla Secondary Upper School.jpg, Tingvalla upper secondary school File:Rådhuset Karlstad.JPG, Karlstad Town Hall

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control County seats in Sweden Populated lakeshore places in Sweden Populated places in Karlstad Municipality Municipal seats of Värmland County Swedish municipal seats Cities in Sweden