Köping Municipality

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

**Köping Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Map outlining the municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Köping
	{{{locationReadable}}}
	County	Västmanland County
	Province	Västmanland
	Area Rank	607 km² 155th of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	24,667 99th of 290
	Population density	40/km²

Köping Municipality is a Municipality in Västmanland County, in central Sweden where Köping is the seat. It is situated at the end of the Mälaren lake.

1 History
2 Notable natives
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

Köping means merchant place. It was mentioned for the first time in the 13th century. It probably was referred to such a name as it did not yet have a charter. The central location of Köping deems it appropriate for merchancy for people from different parts of the country.

Köping was like the central and southern Sweden Christianized in the 11th century. A church built around the year 1300, the Köping Church, still remains from the early days.

Köping got its charter on January 19, 1474.

In the 17th century Köping municipality produced large amounts of iron that was transported to other countries.

In the 19th century Köping established itself as an industrial city, with a large mechanical workshop and a prosperous harbor. A fire in 1889 destroyed large parts of Köping, whereafter it was rebuilt using stone material under supervision of architect Theodor Dahl.

In the 20th century all kinds of companies have established themselves in Köping. Volvo built a large industry there in the 1920's; the arguably most known bed manufacturer in Sweden, Hästens, in 1924; and a number of gold groceries between 1940-1960.