Ödeshög Municipality () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Östergötland County Östergötland County () is a county or '' län'' in southeastern Sweden. It has land borders with the counties of Kalmar to the southeast, Jönköping to the southwest, Örebro to the northwest, and Södermanland to the northeast. It also has a ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The seat is situated in the small town of

Ödeshög Ödeshög () is a locality and the seat of Ödeshög Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It bo ...

. The coat of arms was created in 1972 at the time the modern

municipalities of Sweden The municipalities of Sweden () are its generally smaller but co-equal local government Legal entity, entities. There are 290 municipalities which are responsible for a large proportion of local services, including schools, emergency services a ...

were created. It mainly represents the medieval monastery of Alvastra: An abbacy staff, a rising moon (historically representing the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

), and a six-pointed star (representing a higher

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

Nature

A large part of the municipality borders lake

Vättern Vättern ( , ) is the second-largest lake in Sweden, after Vänern, and the sixth-largest lake in Europe. It is a long, finger-shaped body of fresh water in south central Sweden, to the southeast of Vänern, pointing at the tip of Scandinavia. ...

. There is a small harbour. There are two

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

s within the municipal borders: ''Isberga'' with a distinguished

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

meadow flor

and ''Kråkeryd'' located on rocks above Vättern at 60 meters altitude. Kråkeryd has a geology rich in Lime (mineral), lime, and the uncultivated rocky terrain is the location for several unusual flowers and plant

Localities

There are two Urban areas in Sweden, 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.

Demographics

This is a demographic table based on Ödeshög Municipality's electoral districts in the

2022 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 11 September 2022 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag who in turn elected the Prime Minister of Sweden. Under the constitution, regional and municipal elections were also held on the same day. The pr ...

sourced from SVT's election platform, in turn taken from SCB official statistics. In total there were 5,303 residents, including 4,109 Swedish citizens of voting age. 38.8% voted for the left coalition and 59.5% for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Sights

Within the borders of the municipalities lies the monastery of Alvastra. One of the world's most famous

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

s, the

Rök runestone The Rök runestone (; Rundata, Ög 136) is one of the most famous runestones, featuring the longest known runic alphabet, runic inscription in stone. It can now be seen beside the church in Rök, Ödeshög Municipality, Östergötland, Sweden. I ...

, is also situated within the municipal borders. There are also other ancient remains: the two

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

s ''Borgberget'' and ''Hjässaborgen''. Both are open for visits although not much remains, and both are somewhat difficult to access. The municipality also contains burial grounds, etc. Besides the monastery of Alvastra, there are seven other notable churches, several of which have a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

foundation. Noteworthy are: ''Rök Church'' from 1845 (outside which stands the

), ''Stora Åby Church'', from the 1750s, with several older artifacts (

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

triptych A triptych ( ) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all m ...

), and ''Ödeshögs Church'' with a medieval foundation. In Eketorp, an ancient Thor's hammer amulet was found.

Famous citizens

Klas Ingesson Klas Inge "Klabbe" Ingesson (20 August 1968 – 29 October 2014) was a Swedish professional footballer and manager. He spent most of his career as a midfielder in Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, England, Italy and France. Ingesson represented the ...

, former

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

and

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

footballer * Helen Svensson Fletre (1909–1987), American author and journalist

Twin towns

Obal Joktan (also written as Yoktan; ; ) was the second of the two sons of Eber (Book of Genesis 10:25; 1 Chronicles 1:19) mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. He descends from Shem, son of Noah. In the Book of Genesis 10:25 it reads: "And unto Eber were bo ...

, BelarusInfo at Ödeshög municipal website
/ref>

References

Statistics Sweden

External links

Ödeshög Municipality
- Official site
Welcome to Ödeshög
- Official tourism page, Swedish/English/German {{DEFAULTSORT:Odeshog Municipality Municipalities of Östergötland County