Salem Municipality is a municipality

Municipalities of Sweden

The municipalities of Sweden are the local government entities of Sweden. The current 290 municipalities are organized into 21 counties...

 in Stockholm County

Stockholm County

Stockholm County is a county or län on the Baltic sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. Stockholm County is divided by the historic provinces of Uppland and Södermanland...

 in east central 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....

. The name traces its origins from Slaem in the 16th century, but was later changed to Salem, the Biblical

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 name of Jerusalem. Its seat is located in Salem

Salem, Sweden

Salem is the seat of Salem Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. Statistically it is a part of the bimunicipal contiguously built-up Tumba urban area.The population in Salem is 14,171 . About 16,000 -References:...

.

History

Like the rest of the areas around Lake Mälaren

Mälaren

Lake Mälaren is the third-largest lake in Sweden, after Lakes Vänern and Vättern. Its area is 1,140 km² and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from east to west...

, Salem has a significant amount of ancient remains, as far back as the Stone Age

Stone Age

The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...

. The church of Salem traces its foundation to the 12th century.

Just like its eastern municipal neighbour Botkyrka

Botkyrka Municipality

Botkyrka Municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, not far from the capital Stockholm. Its seat is located in the town of Tumba....

, Salem traces its history back to the legendary Saint Botvid

Saint Botvid

-Biography:Botvid, who was born in Södermanland, Sweden, went on a trade trip to England and where he came into contact with Christianity and was converted to the Christian faith. Botvid was sent back as a missionary to Sweden by Saint Sigfrid of Växjö along with Saint David and Saint Eskil. The...

, who lived in the area sometime between 1050-1120. In the medieval

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 tradition, a spring would always be found in connection to the death of a saint. According to legend, when the remains of Saint Botvid were transported to the church in today's Botkyrka, the casket was temporarily put down near the shore of Lake Bornsjön

Bornsjön

Bornsjön is a lake of Södermanland, Sweden....

, where a spring poured up. It continues to provide clear water to this day.

Today

Salem was united with the municipality of Botkyrka during the Swedish municipal reform between 1971-1974. However, in 1983, after energetic protests, they were split apart, and Salem became the 14th smallest municipality by area in the country.

External links

• Salem Municipality - Official site