is a
Municipality in western
Sweden . Its seat is in '''Mariestad''' (coor ; pop. 20,000 ; area 10 km²). Mariestad was once the seat for the
Skaraborg County (deestablished with the new year 1998). Instead it is now part of the giant cluster called
Västra Götaland County .
The city was founded in 1583 by Duke Charles, who later became King
Charles IX Of Sweden . His wife Marie of Pfalz gave the city her name. The coat of arms for Mariestad, an oxe stepping out of water, is said to be what Marie of Pfalz saw by the bay Tidan in Mariestad when she arrived there.
Mariestad is one of two swedish cities with a
Cathedral but no bishop's seat (the other being
Kalmar ). Mariestad only had a bishop in the 17th century, but the diocese was later merged with
Diocese Of Skara .
- Torbern Bergman 1735 - 1784, chemist
- Rudolf Kjellén 1864 - 1922 , political scientist
- Carl Fridolf Carlsson 1870 - 1924 industrial man
: Carlsson was during World War I the owner of Germany's largest ship industry, Schichau .
- Charles Emil Löfwenskiöd 1810 - 1888, architect.
The largest employers are
Electrolux and ''Katrinefors bruk''.
Mariestad is located by lake
Vänern and is visited by many tourists in the summer. In the municipality lies the largest sweet water archipelago of
Sweden , where Torsö and Brommö are the largest islands. North of the city
Göta Kanal ends into
Vänern .
.]]
- Corresponding article on Swedish wikipedia
