Falköping () is a locality and the seat of

Falköping Municipality Falköping Municipality () is a municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the stad (Sweden), town of Falköping. The present municipality consists of more than 50 original local g ...

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County () is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1,616,000 amounts to 17% of S ...

, Sweden. It had 16,350 inhabitants in 2010.

History

The town of Falköping was first spoken of in the Icelandic ''Rimbegla'' (around 1100 A.D.), and is mentioned in the Westrogothic law. It was also an important site of

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

due to its 12th-century church dedicated to

Saint Olaf Saint Olaf ( – 29 July 1030), also called Olaf the Holy, Olaf II, Olaf Haraldsson, and Olaf the Stout or "Large", was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the ...

(''Sankt Olofs kyrka''). The town was heading for a shut-down during the 16th century and was even burnt to the ground by the Danish during the

Northern Seven Years' War The Northern Seven Years' War (also known as the ''Nordic Seven Years' War'', the ''First Northern War,'' the ''Seven Years' War of the North'' or the ''Seven Years War in Scandinavia'') was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden (1523–1611), K ...

. However the town survived and was rebuilt. Falköping or Falbygden (when meaning the agricultural landscape in which Falköping is located) is widely known for its ancient remains of

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

. The town is located between the two

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

s Mösseberg and Ålleberg. The location has been inhabited since the end of the ice age and cultivated by people for the last 6000 years. The oldest find is a form of megalithic tomb called

dolmen A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber Megalith#Tombs, megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000 ...

, dating back to 3400 B.C. There are also 28

passage grave A passage grave or passage tomb consists of one or more burial chambers covered in earth or stone and having a narrow access passage made of large stones. These structures usually date from the Neolithic Age and are found largely in Western Europ ...

s dating back to 3300 B.C. Also several

cist In archeology, a cist (; also kist ; ultimately from ; cognate to ) or cist grave is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper shaft tomb. Examples occur ac ...

s have been found here, they can be traced back to earlier Stone Age (''Senneolitikum'') 2400–1500 B.C and are believed to be built or inspired by travelers from the countries where this kind of grave was commonly constructed. Falköping is the only town in Europe with this amount of megalithic graves as visible contribution to the town image.

Local industry

Early industry in Falköping was the Victoria Brewery (sv. ''Victoriabryggeriet'') (1856–1953), Haglunds Roller blinds factory (sv. ''Haglunds rullgardinsfabrik'') (1885-) and Forss hat factory (sv. ''Forss hattfabrik'') (1880–). In the early 20th-century (1900–) several companies were established, such as: Alton gold forgery (1928), Falköping dairy factory (sv. ''Falköpings Mejeri'') (1930–), workshop industry Arkivator (sv. ''verkstadsindustrin Arkivator'') (1940–) and the sewing factories Svaréns and Ottossons. ''Falköpings Mejeri'' (Falköping dairy factory) is a co-operative dairy company which supplies milk to grocery stores in western Sweden. The Falbygdens Ost cheese factory supplies cheese to stores throughout Sweden. A "dry port" (sv. ''torrhamn'') has recently been built in connection to the railway, enabling companies in the surrounding area to handle cargo in a more efficient way.

Geography

The town is located where the Western Main Line () between

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

meets the railline from

Nässjö Nässjö () is a locality and the seat of Nässjö Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 31,782 inhabitants in 2024. History For many years, Nässjö was a rural village with agriculture as the dominant occupation. The turning point wa ...

via

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat o ...

to Falköping. As it takes less than a one-hour train journey to reach both Gothenburg and Jönköping respectively, Falköping makes a good location for commuting.

Notable people

* Madelen Janogy (born 1995), footballer * Jan Karlsson (born 1966), Olympic cyclist

Sports and leisure

Association football Falköping has several

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

fields. Clubs include: * Falköpings KIK * IFK Falköping * Falköpings FK Motor Sports The Falköpings Motorklubb hosts car and motorbike racing at the Motorstadion, about 5 km west of the locality. The Club originally ran a motorcycle speedway team known as Falkarna, who raced in the

Swedish Speedway Team Championship The Swedish Speedway Team Championship is the team championship of motorcycle speedway, speedway in Sweden. History The Championship was introduced in 1950. In 1982 the Championship was renamed with a new league called the Elitserien (speedwa ...

. The speedway track held the Continental Speedway final round of the 1952 Individual Speedway World Championship. Walking routes There is also an long pathway around the core of the town called ''Hälsoslingan'' (path of health). It is used for running and taking walks together with friends and family.

The folk tale of The Riders of Ålleberg

According to local

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, whenever the town of Falköping is in danger, the mountain-side of Ålleberg shall fall and reveal a troop of knight-like figures who shall ride out and vanquish the threat. They are known as ''Ållebergs Ryttare'' (The Riders of Ålleberg).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Falkoping Municipal seats of Västra Götaland County Swedish municipal seats Populated places in Falköping Municipality Market towns in Sweden