Vadstena Municipality

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

**Vadstena Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Vastena Castle Vadstena in southern Sweden Map outlining the municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Vadstena
	58° 27′ N 14° 54′ E
	County	Östergötland County
	Province	Östergötland
	Area Rank	182.5 km² 254th of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	7,562 246th of 290
	Population density	21/km²

Vadstena Municipality is a Swedish municipality in southeast Sweden. It is located in the province of Östergötland by Vättern, Sweden's second largest lake. Its seat is in Vadstena, with 5,600 inhabitants.

The city Vadstena is above all noted for its two artifacts of Swedish history: It was in Vadstena, in 1350, that Saint Bridget of Sweden founded the first monastery of her Bridgettine Order. And the Vadstena Castle is one of Sweden’s best-preserved castles from the era of Gustav Vasa in the 16th century.

1 Nature
2 Sights
3 Gallery
4 External links

[edit] Nature

Vadstena is situated by lake Vättern, Sweden's second largest lake. Fishing was an important source of food when the town was first founded around the year 1000 AD, and it continued to be depndant on fish and ship merchandice.

There are two nature reserves in the municipality: The Ormbergsliden, 230,000 square metre large, a lime rich marsh. It has several notable plants, such as the uncommon orchid Tuber geophyte (Gymnadenia odoratissima), and the carnivorous Butterwort plant [1]. The Kastad kulle torräng is a drumlin rich on lime, and hosts several plants otherwise not found in the area, such as the Oxytropis pilosa, otherwise very sparsely outside of Gotland [2].

[edit] Sights

Vadstena Hospital Museum

Vadstena Castle
Vadstena Abbey
The Vadstena Hospital area and museum with buildings from 16th century to 20th century.
The Herrestad Church was inaugurated in 1112, which makes it the oldest dated stone church in Sweden (the Holy Cross Church in Dalby, Skåne, Sweden was built "around" 1060). The church tower was constructed around a century later, and is largely unmodified throughout the centuries.
The Rogslösa Church stems from the 13th century, and is especially notable for its ornaments of Celtic influences.
There are also other interesting medieval churches in the municipality, such as Hagebyhöga Church, Väversunda Church, 'The Hov Church, Örberga Church and Nässja kyrka. Most of these were begun on in the 12th century.