Vadstena

Vadstena
Vadstena Town Hall is the oldest in Sweden
Vadstena Vadstena
Coordinates: 58°27′N 14°54′E
Country	Sweden
Province	Östergötland
County	Östergötland County
Municipality	Vadstena Municipality
Area
• Total	3.41 km2 (1.32 sq mi)
Population  (31 December 2010)
• Total	5,613
• Density	1,645/km2 (4,260/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

Vadstena (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈvâsːˌteːna] ^ⓘ) is a locality and the seat of Vadstena Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden, with 5,613 inhabitants in 2010. From 1974 to 1979 Vadstena was administered as part of Motala Municipality.

Despite its small population, Vadstena is, for historical reasons, still referred to as a city: though it received its city privileges in 1400), Statistics Sweden only counts as cities Swedish urban localities with more than 10,000 inhabitants.

History

Above all, the city of Vadstena is noted for two important facts of Swedish history. It was in Vadstena, year 1350, that Saint Bridget of Sweden founded the first monastery of her Bridgettine Order, and Vadstena Castle is one of Sweden's best-preserved castles from the era of Gustav Vasa in the 16th century, when Sweden became Protestant. Today the surviving buildings of the monastery are occupied by a hotel, (Vadstena Klosterhotel), and the castle houses the provincial archives and a museum of 16th and 17th century furniture, portraits and paintings.

Since the 16th century, Vadstena has been the location of a hospital. Earlier in history, it mainly housed mental patients. Today, some of the oldest buildings present the Vadstena Hospital Museum.

Vadstena in Suecia antiqua et hodierna, c 1700

The buildings in the city centre date mainly from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The old town is well preserved and the streets have not changed much over the centuries. The Town Hall is Sweden's oldest, dating back to the early 15th century. Notable is the main street (Storgatan) where all the shops are gathered, as they would have been during the Middle Ages.

The botanist Erik Acharius died in Vadstena (1819).

Railway

Vadstena also preserves elements of more recent history in the museum of the Vadstena-Fågelsta narrow gauge railway (Wadstena Fogelsta Järnväg). This 891 mm (or Swedish three foot) railway was once part of a large network of narrow-gauge railways in Östergötland constructed in the latter part of the 19th century.

Famous people

• Stina Blackstenius, Swedish footballer
• Nina Koppang, Swedish handball player

Gallery

• 
  Vadstena station
• 
  Vadstena Abbey Church
• 
  Vadstena Castle

External links

• Tourism website of Vadstena [1] (Swedish, German, English)