Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of

Karlstad Municipality Karlstad Municipality () is a municipality in Värmland County in west central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Karlstad. The present municipality was established in 1971 when the former City of Karlstad was amalgamated with a number ...

, the capital of

Värmland County Värmland County () is a county or '' län'' in west central Sweden. It borders the Swedish counties of Dalarna, Örebro and Västra Götaland, as well as the Norwegian counties of Østfold, Akershus and Innlandet to the west. The title of Duke ...

, 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 Klarälven ("The clear river" in Swedish) is a river flowing through Norway and Sweden. Together with Göta älv, which it is called as the river has passed through the lake Vänern, thus regarded as an entity, Göta älv—Klarälven is the l ...

, runs into Sweden's largest lake,

Vänern Vänern ( , , ) is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the European Union and the third-largest lake in Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland in the sou ...

. 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 Sola i Karlstad ("the Sun in Karlstad"), nickname of Eva Lisa Holtz (1 January 1739, Karlstad – 24 September 1818), was a Swedish waitress and inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usua ...

" (''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 A marketplace, market place, or just market, is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from ...

Karlstad was granted its

city charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally, the granting of a charter ...

on March 5, 1584, by the Swedish Duke Charles, who would later be crowned King

Charles IX of Sweden Charles IX, also Carl (; 4 October 1550 – 30 October 1611), reigned as King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I () and of his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, the brother of King Eric XIV and of ...

. 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 A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

in modern Swedish history had its beginning in Karlstad. During the night of 7 March 1809, major general

Georg Adlersparre Count Georg Adlersparre (28 March 1760 – 23 September 1835) was a Swedish army commander, politician and writer from the Adlersparre family. He was the leader of the Coup of 1809, leading to the deposition of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden. ...

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 Gustav IV Adolf or Gustav IV Adolph (1 November 1778 – 7 February 1837) was King of Sweden from 1792 until he was deposed in a coup in 1809. He was also the last Swedish monarch to be the ruler of Finland. The occupation of Finland in 180 ...

. 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 In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at Angle#Types of angles, right angles to each other, forming a wikt:grid, grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, fr ...

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 Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

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 Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

(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 Karlstad Cathedral (Swedish: ''Karlstads domkyrka'') is a cathedral in Karlstad, Sweden. The church is located in the middle of Karlstad on Lagberget on Tingvalla island. It belongs to Karlstad Cathedral Parish of the Diocese of Karlstad of the ...

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 International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry int ...

. 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 Karlstad University ( Swedish ''Karlstads universitet'') is a state university in Karlstad, Sweden. It was originally established as the Karlstad campus of the University of Gothenburg in 1967, and this campus became an independent university c ...

, which was granted university status in 1999.

Media

Värmlands Folkblad ''Värmlands Folkblad'' ("Värmland's People's Paper") is a Swedish language daily newspaper released in Värmland, Sweden. History and profile ''Värmlands Folkblad'' was established in 1918. The paper has a social democratic political leaning. ...

and

Nya Wermlands-Tidningen ''Nya Wermlands-Tidningen'' (meaning "The New Värmland Newspaper" in English), shortened ''NWT'', is a Swedish local newspaper distributed in the provinces of Värmland, Dalsland and western Dalarna. History and profile The newspaper was found ...

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 Färjestad Bollklubb (; abbreviated as FBK) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Karlstad. Färjestad has had 21 Swedish Championship final appearances, winning ten times since the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserie ...

. The team plays in the ''

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (SHL; ) is a professional ice hockey league in Sweden and the highest level of the ice hockey in Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, and while Li ...

'' (SHL, highest level) and their home arena is

Löfbergs Arena Löfbergs Arena is an arena located in Karlstad, Sweden, situated just above the river delta of Klarälven. It is primarily used for ice hockey, and is the home arena of Färjestad BK. It opened in 2001 following a complete overhaul and major e ...

. 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 IF Boltic is a Swedish sports club from the town Karlstad. The club was founded in the district of Herrhagen in Karlstad on 1 November 1946. The name Boltic was created due to the interest for British football, by adding the beginning of Bolton ...

and

IF Karlstad-Göta If or IF may refer to: *If (preposition), a preposition used in English conditional sentences * If (subordinator), a subordinator used for English subordinate interrogative clauses Arts and entertainment Film and television * '' If....'', a 196 ...

. 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 Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

'' 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 Rally Sweden (), formerly the KAK-Rally, the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, as a ...

. 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 The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

'', 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 Tingvalla Idrottsplats (abbreviated as Tingvalla IP) is a stadium in Karlstad, Sweden and is the home ground of the football team Carlstad United and the American football team Carlstad Crusaders. It is also used for athletic events and other s ...

, and the facility was also the home ground for the football team Karlstad BK, that played in the men's

Division 1 Norra Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan (), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish football teams. It was formerly simply known as ''Division 1''. Division 1 ...

(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 The Swedish Football Association (, SvFF) is the governing and body of football in Sweden. It organises the football leagues – Allsvenskan for men and for women – and the men's and women's national teams. It is based in Solna and is a ...

(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 IF Karlstad Football is a Swedish football team in Karlstad, Värmland. The club was founded in 2019 from a meger of football clubs Carlstad United and Karlstad BK. The club currently competes in Ettan Norra. They ended last season at 4th in ...

, who compete in Division 1 Norra. Another club from Karlstad is

FBK Karlstad FBK Karlstad is a Swedish football club located in Karlstad in Värmland County. Background Fotbollsklubben Karlstad was founded in 1971. The club has a large youth section which runs many teams. Among the youngsters that have been developed ...

, 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 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 ...

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 Carlstad Crusaders is a Swedish American football team, based in Karlstad, Sweden. The team plays at Tingvalla IP in Karlstad. History The club was founded in 1991. It played its first game in 1992 against the Uddevalla Ravens. Championships ...

play in ''

Superserien Superserien is the highest level of American football in Sweden, founded 1984 and became official in 1991. The number of teams in the top league has varied through the years, ranging from 4 to 10. Superserien 2025 The Superserien 2025 will feat ...

'', 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 Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

(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 Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

running north from Karlstad to

Hagfors Hagfors is a locality and the seat of Hagfors Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden with 10,125 inhabitants in 2010. Its history is traced to 1873, when it was decided to build two blast furnaces at the location. The town of Hagfors used to pl ...

. It is popular with cyclists, inlines skaters and roller skiers. There is also a large number of open-air beaches and bathing spots by

, smaller lakes and

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 CombinedX is a Sweden-based information technology (IT) services and consulting company founded in 1993 and composed of 10 wholly-owned companies that operate in Sweden and Norway. Its head office is located in Karlstad and the company has many ...

Sogeti Sogeti is a Technology Division of Capgemini. Sogeti is specializing in local professional services, with offices in Issy-Les-Moulineaux, employing around 20,000 people in 13 countries. The current Head of Sogeti Global iChristophe Bonnard H ...

, CGI Inc.,

Tieto Tietoevry Corporation (natively Tietoevry Oyj, Tieto prior to June 2019) is a Finnish IT software and service company providing IT and product engineering services. Tietoevry is domiciled in Espoo, Finland, and the company's shares are listed o ...

. 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 Rolf Adam Engelbrekt Alsing (12 October 1968 – 15 April 2020) was a Swedish television and radio presenter, best known for presenting ''Big Brother (Swedish TV series), Big Brother Sweden'' on Kanal 5 (Swedish TV channel), Kanal 5. He mov ...

, radio and television host * Gustaf Bengtsson, musician and composer * Jonas Brodin, National Hockey League ice hockey player *

Niklas Edin Johan Niklas Edin (born 6 July 1985) is a Swedish curler. He holds several sport distinctions. He is the first and the only skip in World Curling Federation (WCF) history to win three Olympic medals – gold (2022), silver (2018), and bronze ( ...

, 2013 World Men's Curling Champion *

JH Engström JH Engström (born 1969) is a Swedish photographer, filmmaker and artist based in Paris. Biography Born in 1969 in Karlstad, Sweden, JH Engström has been developing for two decades a major work that questions the conditions of our existence in ...

, 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 The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), first officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the E ...

winner * Nils Ferlin, poet * Jenny Fransson, wrestler *

Gustaf Fröding Gustaf Fröding (; 22 August 1860 – 8 February 1911) was a Swedish poet and writer from Alster, Värmland. The family moved to Kristinehamn in the year 1867. He later studied at Uppsala University and worked as a journalist in Karlstad.

, poet *

Stefan Holm Stefan Christian Holm (born 25 May 1976) is a retired Swedish high jumper. He won an Olympic Games, Olympic gold medal, a silver medal, silver in the World Championships in Athletics, World Championships, and one silver and one bronze medal in ...

, high jumper,

2004 Olympic The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

gold medalist * Oscar Klefbom, ice hockey player * Anders Kulläng, rally driver *

Zarah Leander Zarah Leander (; 15 March 1907 – 23 June 1981) was a Sweden, Swedish singer and actress whose greatest success was in Germany between 1936 and 1943, when she was contracted to work for the state-owned UFA GmbH, Universum Film AG (UFA). Althou ...

, UFA actress *

Lina Länsberg Lina Länsberg (born 13 March 1982) is a Swedish former professional mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. She is most notable for her time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Muay Thai career Länsberg started train ...

, professional

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

and two times gold medalist in the IFMA World Championship in

Muay Thai Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...

* 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 Hans Christer Sjögren (; born 6 April 1950) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the dansband group Vikingarna (band), Vikingarna. Early life Hans Christer Sjögren was born in Hagfors, Swed ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

dansband (; "dance band"), or in Norwegian and Danish, is a Swedish language, Swedish term for a band that plays (; "dance band music"). ' is often danced to in partner dance, pairs. Jitterbug and foxtrot music are often included in this category. T ...

singer ( Vikingarna) *

Ulf Sterner Ulf Ivar Erik Sterner (born 11 February 1941) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey forward. He played in nine IIHF World Championships for Sweden, where the team won seven medals: one gold, five silver, and one bronze. He was also a membe ...

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 Horsens () is a city on the east coast of the Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 64,418 (1 January 2025) and the municipality's population is 97,921 (), making it the List of cities and ...

, Denmark *

Jõgeva Jõgeva is a small town in Estonia with a population of around 5000 people. It is the capital of Jõgeva Parish and Jõgeva County. History Jõgeva was first mentioned in 1599 as ''Jagiwa'' manor, being established only recently on the lands ...

, Estonia *

Blönduós Blönduós () is a town and former municipality in the north of Iceland with a population of 895 in 2018. Like many towns and villages around Iceland, Blönduós did not emerge as a village until the late 19th century. The town is situated on Rou ...

, Iceland *

Gaziantep Gaziantep, historically Aintab and still informally called Antep, is a major city in south-central Turkey. It is the capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Medi ...

, 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