Ödeshög Municipality

Ödeshög Municipality

*Ödeshögs kommun*
Ödeshög Municipality Ödeshögs kommun
Municipality
	Coat of arms
	Coordinates: 58°13′N 14°39′E / 58.217°N 14.650°E
Country	Sweden
County	Östergötland County
Seat	Ödeshög
Area
• Total	668.99 km2 (258.30 sq mi)
• Land	430.42 km2 (166.19 sq mi)
• Water	238.57 km2 (92.11 sq mi)
	Area as of 1 January 2014.
Population (31 December 2023)
• Total	5,279
• Density	7.9/km2 (20/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	SE
Province	Östergötland
Municipal code	0509
Website	www.odeshog.se

Ödeshög Municipality (Ödeshögs kommun) is a municipality in Östergötland County, Sweden. The seat is situated in the small town of Ödeshög.

The coat of arms was created in 1972 at the time the modern municipalities of Sweden were created. It mainly represents the medieval monastery of Alvastra: An abbacy staff, a rising moon (historically representing the Virgin Mary), and a six-pointed star (representing a higher deity).

Nature

A large part of the municipality borders lake Vättern. There is a small harbour.

There are two nature reserves within the municipal borders: Isberga with a distinguished steppe meadow flora [1], and Kråkeryd located on rocks above Vättern at 60 meters altitude. Kråkeryd has a geology rich in lime, and the uncultivated rocky terrain is the location for several unusual flowers and plants [2].

Localities

There are two urban areas (also called a Tätort or locality) in Ödeshög Municipality.

In the table the localities are listed according to the size of the population as of December 31, 2005. The municipal seat is in bold characters.

#	Locality	Population
1	Ödeshög	2,651
2	Hästholmen	372

Demographics

This is a demographic table based on Ödeshög Municipality's electoral districts in the 2022 Swedish general election sourced from SVT's election platform, in turn taken from SCB official statistics.^[3]

In total there were 5,303 residents, including 4,109 Swedish citizens of voting age.^[3] 38.8% voted for the left coalition and 59.5% for the right coalition. Indicators are in percentage points except population totals and income.

Location

%

Alvastra

1,225

986

37.3

60.6

84

92

8

25,548

34

Fridtjuv Berg

1,680

1,258

39.8

58.2

78

22

21,472

25

Holaveden

774

638

37.1

61.8

84

93

7

23,025

31

Lysing

1,624

1,227

38.9

59.6

86

87

13

22,772

24

Source: SVT^[3]

Sights

Alvastra kloster.

Within the borders of the municipalities lies the monastery of Alvastra. One of the world's most famous runestones, the Rök runestone, is also situated within the municipal borders.

There are also other ancient remains: the two hillforts Borgberget and Hjässaborgen. Both are open for visits although not much remains, and both are somewhat difficult to access. The municipality also contains burial grounds, etc.

Besides the monastery of Alvastra, there are seven other notable churches, several of which have a medieval foundation. Noteworthy are: Rök Church from 1845 (outside which stands the Rök runestone), Stora Åby Church, from the 1750s, with several older artifacts (baptismal font, triptych), and Ödeshögs Church with a medieval foundation.

In Eketorp, an ancient Thor's hammer amulet was found.