About Sweden

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a population of 9 million people and covers an area of 449 964 square kilometres, making it the third largest country in Western Europe, after France and Spain.
Read more on www.sweden.se

Stockholm map

About Stockholm
Stockholm, the capital of the kingdom of Sweden, is situated on the islands and shores of Saltsjön bay of the Baltic Sea and the freshwater lake Mälaren. It is a truly international city, set in a landscape of extensive lakes and forests. Including the suburbs, the population of Stockholm is approximately 1,4 million.

About 4 000 years ago, Stone Age fishermen and hunters lived in the archipelago of which Stadsholmen was one of many small islands. At this period in time the land area looked very different because of the land rising out of the water at a rate of around 50 cm per century. The land is, even today, trying to recover from the thick ice cap of the latest ice age. During a few hundred years of expansion around the middle of the Iron Age the farming country that still exists around Stockholm came into being. Permanent settlements in the Stockholm area took place only when the gradual rise of the land level had created areas suitable for farming and grazing. Stockholm was founded in the 13th century on the island of Stadsholmen, which is now known as Gamla Stan (the Old Town). The first surviving record in which the name Stockholm appears is a letter of safe conduct dated 1252.

During the Middle Ages, the dominant building in Stockholm was the Royal castle. There are still remains of parts of the medieval castle, built into the north wing of the present Royal palace. The Old Town grew up on the high ground of Stadsholmen, surrounded by city walls. The blocks of the Old Town are large and irregular, the streets are narrow and the buildings are closely packed. This very charming, medieval part of the city is just a short walk away from the meeting venue and is well worth a visit.

The Stockholm archipelago is one of the world's most spectacular and while it may seem practically infinite, it actually consists of some 24 000 islands, islets and rocks. The archipelago starts right in the middle of Stockholm and stretches for about 60 km into the Baltic Sea.