Falköping is a locality

Urban areas in Sweden

Urban area is a common English translation of the Swedish term tätort. The official term in English, used by Statistics Sweden, is, however, locality. There are 1,940 localities in Sweden . They could be compared with census-designated places in the United States.A tätort in Sweden has a minimum of...

 and the seat of Falköping Municipality

Falköping Municipality

Falköping Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Falköping....

, Västra Götaland County

Västra Götaland County

Västra Götaland County is a county or län on the western coast of Sweden.The county is the second largest of Sweden's counties and it is subdivided into 49 municipalities . Its population of 1,550,000 amounts to 17% of Sweden's population...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. It had 15,821 inhabitants in 2005.

History

The city of Falköping most likely emerged during the 15th century but earlier the town was an important site of pilgrimage

Pilgrimage

A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...

 due to its 12th century church dedicated to Saint Olaf (Sankt Olof). The city 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

Northern Seven Years' War

The Northern Seven Years' War was the war between Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck and the Polish–Lithuanian union, fought between 1563 and 1570...

. However the city survived as one of the smallest cities in the kingdom.

Geography

The city is located where the Western Railline (Västra Stambanan

Västra stambanan

The Western Main Line is the main railway line between Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden. The line is electrified and consists entirely of double track, except the four-track sections between Gothenburg Central Station and Olskroken , in Järna Station , and south of Stockholm, between...

) between Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 and Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

 meets the railline from Nässjö

Nässjö

Nässjö is a locality and the seat of Nässjö Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 16,463 inhabitants in 2005.-History:Nässjö was for a long time only a rural village with agriculture as the dominant occupation. The turning point was the construction of the Swedish railway system. The southern...

 via Jönköping

Jönköping

-Notable people:*Lillian Asplund, RMS Titanic survivor*John Bauer, illustrator, painter*Amy Diamond, singer*Agnetha Fältskog, ABBA*Carl Henrik Fredriksson, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Eurozine*Anders Gustafsson, kayaker, Olympian...

 to Falköping. The city has never been a major industrial town and has existed as a mere service centre for the surrounding rural landscape, known as Falbygden

Falbygden

Falbygden is a geographical area, centered at the town of Falköping,in southern Sweden, and covered mostly by farmland. It is known for its geology, flora and megalithic culture....

, now Falköpings kommun.

Sports

The following sports clubs are located in Falköping:

• Falköpings FK
  Falköpings FK
  Falköpings FK is a Swedish football club located in Falköping in Västra Götaland County.-Background:Falköpings Fotbollklubb was formed in 1989 when Falköpings BK, Falköpings AIK and BK Rapid decided to merge into a single club under the name FFR. The name Falköpings FK appeared a year later in 1990...
  
  
• Kinnarp-Slutarps IF