Mariestad Municipality

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This page deals with both Mariestad Municipality and the urban area (tätort) Mariestad

**Mariestad Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Mariestad in Västra Götaland County Map outlining municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Mariestad
	{{{locationReadable}}}
	County	Västra Götaland County
	Province	Västergötland
	Area Rank	602 km² 157th of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	23,897 x of 290
	Density	40/km²

Mariestad Cathedral, 2003

Mariestad Municipality is a Municipality in western Sweden. Its seat is in Mariestad (coor 58°42′N 13°49′E; pop. 20,000 ; area 10 km²). Mariestad was once the seat for the Skaraborg County (deestablished with the new year 1998). Instead it is now part of the giant cluster called Västra Götaland County.

The city was founded in 1583 by Duke Charles, who later became King Charles IX of Sweden. His wife Marie of Pfalz gave the city her name. The coat of arms for Mariestad, an oxe stepping out of water, is said to be what Marie of Pfalz saw by the bay Tidan in Mariestad when she arrived there.

Mariestad is one of two Swedish cities with a cathedral but no bishop's seat (the other being Kalmar). Mariestad only had a bishop in the 17th century, but the diocese was later merged with Diocese of Skara.

1 Notable natives
2 Industry
3 Geography
4 External links

[edit] Notable natives

Torbern Bergman 1735 - 1784, chemist
Rudolf Kjellén 1864 - 1922 , political scientist
Carl Fridolf Carlsson 1870 - 1924 industrial man

Carlsson was during World War I the owner of Germany's largest ship industry, Schichau.

Charles Emil Löfwenskiöd 1810 - 1888, architect.
Axel Lindahl (1841-1906), pioneering photographer

[edit] Industry

The largest employers are Electrolux and Katrinefors bruk.

[edit] Geography

Mariestad is located by lake Vänern and is visited by many tourists in the summer. In the municipality lies the largest sweet water archipelago of Sweden, where Torsö and Brommö are the largest islands. North of the city Göta kanal ends into Vänern.