Ödeshög Municipality

Ödeshög Municipality Ödeshögs kommun
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms
Country	Sweden
County	Östergötland County
Seat	Ödeshög
Area[1]
– Total	672.1 km2 (259.5 sq mi)
– Land	431.39 km2 (166.6 sq mi)
– Water	240.71 km2 (92.9 sq mi)
	Area as of January 1, 2010.
Population (June 30, 2010)[2]
– Total	5,330
– Density	7.9/km2 (20.5/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
– Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code
ISO 3166 code	SE
Province	Östergötland
Municipal code	0509
Website	www.odeshog.se

Ödeshög Municipality (Ödeshögs kommun) is a municipality in Östergötland County, Sweden. The seat is situated in the small town of Ödeshög.

The coat of arms was created in 1972 at the time the modern municipalities of Sweden were created. It mainly represents the medieval monastery of Alvastra: An abacy staff, a rising moon (historically representing Virgin Mary), and a six-edged star (representing a higher deity).

Nature

A large part of the municipality borders to lake Vättern. There is a small boat port.

Two nature reserves are within municipal borders: Isberga with a distinguished steppe meadow flora [1], and Kråkeryd located on rocks above Vättern at 60 meters altitude. Kråkeryd has a geology rich on lime, and the uncultivated rocky terrain is the location for several unusual flowers and plants [2].

Localities

There are 2 urban areas (also called a Tätort or locality) in Ödeshög Municipality.

In the table the localities are listed according to the size of the population as of December 31, 2005. The municipal seat is in bold characters.

#	Locality	Population
1	Ödeshög	2,651
2	Hästholmen	372

Sights

Within the borders of the municipalities lies the monastery of Alvastra. One of the world's most famous runestones, the Rök Runestone, is also situated within the municipal borders.

There are also other ancient remains: the two hillforts Borgberget and Hjässaborgen. Both are open for visits although not much remains, and both somewhat difficult to access. The municipality also contains gravefields, etc.

Besides the monastery of Alvastra, there are seven other notable churches, several of which have a medieval foundation. Noteworthy are: Rök Church from 1845 (outside which the Rök Runestone is standing), Stora Åby Church, from the 1750s, with several older artifacts (baptismal font, triptych); and Ödeshögs Church with a medieval foundation.

Famous citizens

• Klas Ingesson, former Sheffield Wednesday and PSV Eindhoven footballer
• Helen Svensson Fletre (1909–1987), American author and journalist

References

• Statistics Sweden

1. ^ "Statistiska centralbyrån den 1 januari 2010" (in Swedish) (Microsoft Excel). Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/Statistik/MI/MI0802/2010A01/mi0802tab3_2010.xls. Retrieved 2010-08-21. 
2. ^ "SCB, Befolkningsstatistik 30 juni 2010" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. http://www.scb.se/Pages/TableAndChart____244147.aspx. Retrieved 2010-08-19. 

External links

• Ödeshög Municipality - Official site
• Welcome to Ödeshög - Official tourism page, Swedish/English/German

Coordinates: 58°13′N 14°39′E / 58.217°N 14.65°E / 58.217; 14.65