Marstrand is a seaside 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...

 situated in Kungälv Municipality

Kungälv Municipality

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

, 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 1,432 inhabitants in 2005. It has held city privileges since 1200. The most striking feature about Marstrand is the 17th century fortress Carlsten

Carlsten

Carlsten is a stone fortress located at Marstrand, on the western coast of Sweden. The fortress was built on the orders of King Carl X of Sweden following the Treaty of Roskilde, 1658 to protect the newly acquired province of Bohuslän from hostile attacks....

, named after King Carl X Gustav of Sweden. The town got its name from its location on the island Marstrandsön. Recently the town has expanded to the neighbouring island Koön, which has bridge access to the mainland.

During the last quarter of the 18th century Marstrand had the free port

Free port

A free port or free zone , sometimes also called a bonded area is a port, port area or other area with relaxed jurisdiction with respect to the country of location...

 status, granted by the King Gustav III

Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....

. Marstrand is a popular sailing

Sailing

Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...

 resort in summer time. It is also the venue of the annual Match Cup Sweden, a match race sailing competition.

Administratively Marstrand and its immediately surrounding islands constituted a city municipality

Municipalities of Sweden

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

 of its own up until the local government reform in 1971, when it was merged into Kungälv Municipality

Kungälv Municipality

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

.

Marstrand is, despite its small population, for historical reasons often still referred to as a city. Statistics Sweden, however, only counts localities with more than 10,000 inhabitants as cities.

Sailing

Being an island makes Marstrand an ideal location for sailing and sailing competitions.

Marstrand is the host venue for the prestigious Match Cup Sweden event which is part of the World Match Racing Tour

World Match Racing Tour

The World Match Racing Tour is a professional sailing series, featuring 9 World Championship events across the globe, sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation with “Special Event” status...

. The event draws the world's best sailing teams to Marstrand in a gladiatorial battle of nerve and skill on the water. The identical supplied (DS-37) boats are raced two at a time in an on the water dogfight which tests the sailors and skippers to the limits of their physical abilities. Points accrued count towards the World Match Racing Tour and a place in the final event, with the overall winner taking the title ISAF

International Sailing Federation

The International Sailing Federation is recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the world governing body for the sport of sailing....

 World Match Racing Tour Champion. Match racing is an ideal sport for spectators in Marstand. Racing is held approximately 15m from the shore providing excellent heart of the action views for the audience. Highlights of the event can be seen on Eurosport television and via the official World Match Racing Tour website.

External links

• Marstrand - From Kungälv Municipality official page article Marstrand from Nordisk Familjebok
  Nordisk familjebok
  Nordisk familjebok is a Swedish encyclopedia, published between 1876 and 1957.- History :The first edition was published in 20 volumes between 1876 and 1899. The first edition is known as the "Iðunn edition" because of the picture of Iðunn on the cover...
  
  (1912)