Motala
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| Motala | |
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  Motala
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| Coordinates: | |
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| Country | Sweden |
| Municipality | Motala Municipality |
| County | Östergötland County |
| Province | Östergötland |
| Area [1] | |
| - Total | 19.18 km² (7.4 sq mi) |
| Population (2005-12-31)[1] | |
| - Total | 29,798 |
| - Density | 1,554/km² (4,024.8/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
Motala is a city (pop.30,000) in Östergötland, Sweden and seat of Motala Municipality, Östergötland County. Motala is regarded as the capital of Göta kanal and lake Vättern. The town is beautifully situated on the waterfront and offers fantastic scenery. The Varamon beach is the pride of the area and is locally described as the Copacabana of northern europe.
[edit] History
The Motala Church dates from the 13th century and Motala was a small village through the centuries. King Gustav Vasa had a manor house built at Motala. When the Göta Canal was built in the early 19th century, Motala became an important town for the trade on the canal. Motala Verkstad was the ship and steam engine industry, famous in large parts of the world. In the science fiction novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, the spur of the submarine Nautilus was built at Motala Verkstad. The builder of the Göta Canal, Baltzar von Platen has his grave by the canal in Motala.
The town received a minor privilege when it became a köping in 1823, with full city rights granted as of April 1, 1881. With the municpal reform of 1971 Motala became seat of Motala Municipality.
[edit] Longwave radio
Another important episode of the Motala history began in 1927, when the Swedish national longwave radio broadcasting station was built here. The town marks the middle of a straight line between Sweden's two biggest cities, Stockholm and Gothenburg. Radio programs were transferred from studios in Stockholm to Motala by telephone wire. The call was "Stockholm-Motala". The transmitter operated on 191 kHz until 1962, then the transmission where moved to Orlunda. Since 1991 there are no longwave transmissions at all of the Swedish Broadcasting Company, but from the transmitter Motala, which is a museum today, sometimes transmissions with low power occur, which may only receivable in the area of Motala.
At Ervasteby, there is a 332 metres tall guyed mast, used for FM- and TV-broadcasting.
Some years before the broadcasting station the company Luxor was founded. Luxor soon became one of the largest radio, and later television, manufacturers in Sweden. In the 1980s Luxor started producing their own line of computers, like the ABC 80. In 1985 Luxor was acquired by Nokia, and eventually production moved elsewhere.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km2 2000 och 2005 (xls) (Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved on 2008-05-15.
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Motala is one of 134 towns with the historical City status in Sweden. |
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