Falköping is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

and the seat of

Falköping Municipality Falköping Municipality (''Falköpings kommun'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Falköping. The present municipality consists of more than 50 original local government units, j ...

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1 ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. It had 16,350 inhabitants in 2010.

History

Sankt Olofs kyrka i Falköping, den 17 juni 2006, bild 2

The town of Falköping was first spoken of in the Icelandic ''Rimbegla'' (around 1100 A.D.), and is mentioned in the Westrogothic law. It was also an important site of

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

due to its 12th-century church dedicated to

Saint Olaf Olaf II Haraldsson ( – 29 July 1030), later known as Saint Olaf (and traditionally as St. Olave), was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title ''Rex Perpet ...

(''Sankt Olofs kyrka''). The town was heading for a shut-down during the 16th century and was even burnt to the ground by the Danish during the

Northern Seven Years' War The Northern Seven Years' War (also known as the ''Nordic Seven Years' War'', the ''First Northern War'' or the ''Seven Years War in Scandinavia'') was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck, and Polan ...

. However the town survived and was rebuilt. Falköping or Falbygden (when meaning the agricultural landscape in which Falköping is located) is widely known for its ancient remains of

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

. The town is located between the two

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

s Mösseberg and

Ålleberg Ålleberg () is a 330 m high mountain, or table, southeast of Falköping, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of S ...

. The location has been inhabited since the end of the ice age and cultivated by people for the last 6000 years. The oldest find is a form of

megalithic tomb A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

called

dolmen A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were somet ...

, dating back to 3400 B.C. There are also 28

passage grave A passage grave or passage tomb consists of one or more burial chambers covered in earth or with stone, and having a narrow access passage made of large stones. These structures usually date from the Neolithic Age, and are found largely in Wester ...

s dating back to 3300 B.C. Also several

cist A cist ( or ; also kist ; from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East ...

s have been found here, they can be traced back to earlier Stone Age (''Senneolitikum'') 2400–1500 B.C and are believed to be built or inspired by travelers from the countries where these kind of graves were commonly constructed. Falköping is the only town in Europe with this amount of megalithic graves as visible contribution to the town image.

Local industry

Early industry in Falköping was the Victoria Brewery (sv. ''Victoriabryggeriet'') (1856–1953), Haglunds Roller blinds factory (sv. ''Haglunds rullgardinsfabrik'') (1885-) and Forss hat factory (sv. ''Forss hattfabrik'') (1880–). In the early 20th-century (1900–) several companies were established, such as: Alton gold forgery (1928), Falköping dairy factory (sv. ''Falköpings Mejeri'') (1930–), workshop industry Arkivator (sv. ''verkstadsindustrin Arkivator'') (1940–) and the sewing factories Svaréns and Ottossons. ''Falköpings Mejeri'' (Falköping dairy factory) is a co-operative dairy company which supplies milk to grocery stores in western Sweden. The Falbygdens Ost cheese factory supplies cheese to stores throughout Sweden. A "dry port" (sv. ''torrhamn'') has recently been built in connection to the railway, enabling companies in the surrounding area to handle cargo in a more efficient way.

Geography

The town is located where the

Western Main Line The Western Main Line ( sv, Västra stambanan) is the main state-owned railway line between Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden. Its construction began in 1856 and it opened for service in 1862.Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

and

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

meets the railline from

Nässjö Nässjö () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Nässjö Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 16,678 inhabitants in 2010. History For many years, Nässjö was a rural village with agriculture as the dominant occupation. ...

via

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat of Jönköping Municipali ...

to Falköping. As it takes less than a one-hour train journey to reach both Gothenburg and Jönköping respectively, Falköping makes a good location for commuting.

Sports and wellbeing

Falköping has several

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

fields. There is also an long pathway around the core of the town called ''Hälsoslingan'' (path of health). It is used for running and taking walks together with friends and family. Local sports clubs include: * IFK Falköping * Falköpings FK

The folk tale of The Riders of Ålleberg

According to local

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, whenever the town of Falköping is in danger, the mountain-side of Ålleberg shall fall and reveal a troop of knight-like figures who shall ride out and vanquish the threat. They are known as ''Ållebergs Ryttare'' (The Riders of Ålleberg). Falköping from Mösseberg

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Falkoping Municipal seats of Västra Götaland County Swedish municipal seats Populated places in Västra Götaland County Populated places in Falköping Municipality Market towns in Sweden