Upplands-Bro Municipality

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**Upplands-Bro Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Upplands-Bro municipality in Metropolitan Stockholm Image:Upplands-Bro in Stockholm.png Map outlining municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms Image:Upplands-Bro City Arms.jpg
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Kungsängen
	{{{locationReadable}}}
	County	Stockholm County
	Province	Uplandia
	Area Rank	328 km² 238th of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	21,348 113th of 290
	Density	90/km²

Upplands-Bro is a Swedish municipality north-west of Stockholm in central Sweden. It covers an area of 328,0 km², whereof 236.2 km² is land. The municipal seat is located in Kungsängen.

[edit] Geography

Situated by lake Mälaren it is distinguished by its nature. The overwhelming majority of the population are located to one of the three towns Kungsängen (pop. 7,500) , Bro (6,200) and Brunna (4,000), and most of the remaining area is taken up by countryside, a substantial part of it being agricultural.

On the northern, western and eastern sides of the municipality the bay Roslagen stretches, while the southern side borders to lake Mälaren. In total, it has about 120 kilometers of shores. Many islets in Mälaren also belong to Upplands-Bro.

[edit] History

As apparent by its coat of arms, Upplands-Bro takes pride in its pre-historic history, and boasts some of the oldest ancient remains in Sweden. From the Iron Age, about 4,000 burial places have been found, and the remains from the Viking Age include 20 runestones.

Every one of the six parishes also hosts a medieval church, built between 1100-1400.

In the 15th century, the fortress Almarestäket was built in the municipality, just east to the present location of Kungsängen. It was the seat of the Swedish archbishop until the Archbishop Gustav Trolle besieged himself there in 1517, leading to the demolishion of the fortress in 1519. The ruins can still be visited.

Since 1970, the main base of the combined cavalry/infantry regiment Livgardet is located in Upplands-Bro. The regiment trains conscript companies of mechanized infantry, Royal Guards and military police. It is also the home of the Swedish Armed Forces International Centre (Swedint).

Upplands-Bro has had railway connection since the commuter trains started running, terminating in Kungsängen. Since 2001, services continued through via Bro station to Bålsta in Uppsala län.