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| Vadstena | |
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  Vadstena
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Sweden |
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| Municipality | Vadstena Municipality |
| County | Östergötland County |
| Province | Östergötland |
| Area 1 | |
| - Total | 3.39 km2 (1.3 sq mi) |
| Population (2005-12-31)1 | |
| - Total | 5,612 |
| - Density | 1,653/km2 (4,281.3/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
Vadstena is a town (pop. 5,700) in the Swedish province of Östergötland and the seat of Vadstena Municipality, Östergötland County. 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 (it received its city privileges in 1400). Statistics Sweden, however, only counts localities with more than 10,000 inhabitants as cities.
Above all the city of Vadstena is noted for two important artefacts of Swedish history: it was in Vadstena, in 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. Today the surviving buildings of the monastery are occupied by a hotel: the Vadstena Klosterhotel, and the castle houses the provincial archives, and a museum of 16th and 17th century furniture, portraits and paintings.
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 3 Swedish feet) gauge railway was once part of a large network of narrow gauge railways in Östergötland constructed in the latter part of the 19th century.
 Vadstena station |
 carriages in front of Vadstena station |
 Train hostel, Vadstena station |
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vadstena |
- ^ a b "Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km2 2000 och 2005" (xls) (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved on 2008-05-15.
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Vadstena is one of 133 towns with the historical City status in Sweden. |
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