Sigtuna

Sigtuna is located on the shores of Lake Mälaren, but the plains around Sigtuna were below sea level from the Ice Age until the beginning of common era. The land was fertile, and became densely populated during the Viking Age, leaving a heritage of runestones, graves and monuments, while Lake Mälaren was part of the Baltic Sea.

According to tradition Sigtuna was founded in 980 AD by king Erik Segersäll (the Victorious). The founding of Sigtuna is considered an important step in unifying Sweden into one centralized kingdom. It replaced Birka as the most important trade node in the region, and as an early Christian centre it competed with the pagan Uppsala for religious supremacy. Erik's son and successor Olaf Skötkonung constructed a mint in Sigtuna, and thereby became the first king to mint coins in Sweden. With a royal mint and a bishop, Sigtuna was effectively the capital of Sweden until power shifted towards Stockholm and Uppsala in the 13th century. The city was raided by "pagans from the East" in 1187, and a few years later in 1190 the archdiocese was moved to Uppsala.

However, Sigtuna prevailed, and in 1237 the first Dominican monastery in Sweden was built there. Sigtuna's decline accelerated in the 16th century due to the Protestant Reformation, as power and wealth moved from the convent in Sigtuna to the king in Stockholm. Between 1648 and 1666 the city suffered three city fires and was eventually abandoned. In 1700 the population of Sigtuna was only 108 people.

Sigtuna's population was down at the hundreds for 250 years, until the city was revived in the 1910s as a nationalist project. Even though many of the buildings look traditional, most of them are from the early 20th century. However, due to the conservative spirit in which the city was reconstructed, it did not experience the same heavy urban renewal that many other Swedish cities did in the 1950s and 60s.

Tourist office:

By plane:

1 Stockholm-Arlanda Airport (ARN IATA) is located in Sigtuna Municipality and is by far the largest airport in Sweden. For public transport between Arlanda and Sigtuna, bus 579 goes directly, while bus 583 connects Arlanda with Märsta where you have to change to bus 570 or 575.

By public transit:

The local public transportation operator in Stockholm County is SL.

There is no train station in Sigtuna; the closest one is in Märsta some 7 km east of Sigtuna. Sigtuna is reached from Märsta station by local buses 570 or 575. These buses are synchronised with the local commuter trains between Stockholm and Märsta.

By boat:

Strömma has a tourist ferry line between Stockholm and Sigtuna, with a stopover at Skokloster Palace in Håbo.

By car:

Route 263 passes through Sigtuna and continues towards Enköping in the West and connects to the highway E4 in the east. The E4, in turn, carries traffic between Uppsala in the North and Stockholm in the South.