Enköping Municipality

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

**Enköping Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Enköping Municipality and Enköping in Sweden Map outlining the municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Enköping
	59° 38´ N, 17° 06´ E
	County	Uppsala County
	Province	Uppland
	Area Rank	1,184 km² 81st of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	38,211 x of 290
	Population density	32/km²

Enköping Municipality is a Swedish municipality in Uppsala County, in east central Sweden. Seat in Enköping with 34,000 inhabitants.

Enköping was once known for its cultivation of horseradish.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Sister cities
4 Sports
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Geography

Enköping is situated in the province of Uppland near Lake Mälaren, about 78 km west of Stockholm. A comparably large number of Swedish cities are located in the vicinity of Enköping. The municipal slogan is therefore "Sweden's Closest City". This expression was created in 1965 when it was discovered by a local business that within a radius of 120 kilometers, one finds 38 Swedish cities and 1/3 of Sweden's population.

[edit] History

Near Enköping, there is some of the best preserved rock art from the Bronze Age present in central Sweden. The city of Enköping itself dates its history back to the 12th century but the city itself did not emerge until about 1250. Enköping was then as now situated by the rich farmlands close to lake Mälaren, leading to a wealthy rural population. The city has also always been a major crossroads for commerce, and excellent communications signify the city even today: The Mälar Railline (Mälarbanan) and the E18 highway provide ample means of travelling to the nearby major cities of Stockholm and Västerås. The city has several manufacturing industries, a hospital and the Army Signaling Regiment, the Uplandia Regiment (Upplands Regemente, S1).

Enköping cirka 1700, from Suecia antiqua et hodierna.

[edit] Sister cities

S:t Karins, Finland,
Ölstykke, Denmark (about to change due to the upcoming major municipality changes in Denmark),
Nedre Eiker, Norway
Jögeva, Estonia

The Nordic cities have a long tradition with sister cities. The relations with Estonian city Jögeva was initiated in the 1990s as an aid project.

(Source: [1])

[edit] Sports

The most successful sports team of the city has for several years been the football team Enköpings SK, with one peak season in the Swedish Premier Division (Allsvenskan) in 2003. Unfortunately, the team has now faced the harsh reality of sports and economics and will be playing in Division 2 the next season. Their home arena is called Enavallen Stadium and is situated in central Enköping.