Sigtuna

Sigtuna is a city in Sigtuna Municipality in Stockholm County, north of Stockholm's northern suburbs.

The city of Sigtuna was Sweden's capital from the 10th to the 13th centuries and has 8,000 residents.



Understand
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.

By plane
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 being in Märsta some 7 km east of Sigtuna. Sigtuna is reached from Märsta station by local buses 570 or 575. These buses are synchronized 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.

Get around
Sigtuna is small and walkable. Unless you intend to leave the town for the surrounding countryside there is no real need for a vehicle.

Runes and Ruins

 * Runestones and other artefacts from the Viking Age in Sigtuna. Over 40 runestones has been found in Sigtuna, and some 170 in Sigtuna Municipality.

Do
Hiking, cycling and fishing during summer. Ice-skating and cross-country skiing during winter.


 * Go bathing

Drink
As most residents venture to central Stockholm for nightlife, Sigtuna municipality mostly contains local hangouts and hotel bars.

Go next

 * Stockholm is where most visitors go, after touching down at Arlanda. See Stockholm for transit to the capital.
 * Knivsta is a suburb of Uppsala, with several historical artefacts.
 * Märsta is the largest town in Sigtuna Municipality.
 * Norrtälje contains the northern edge of the Stockholm archipelago.
 * Uppsala is a millennial city, famous for its Viking Age heritage, and the oldest university in the Nordic countries.