Gislaved Municipality

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For other uses see Gislaved. For the Swedish car tire manufacturer see Gislaved däck

This page deals with both Gislaved Municipality and the urban area (tätort) Gislaved

**Gislaved Municipality (*Kommun*)**
Gislaved in south-west Jönköping County Map outlining the municipalities of Sweden	Coat of arms
	Municipal facts
	Seat	Gislaved
	{{{locationReadable}}}
	County	Jönköping County
	Province	Småland
	Area Rank	1,143 km² 89th of 290
	Population Rank (2005)	29,489 x of 290
	Population density	26/km²

Gislaved Municipality is a Municipality in Jönköping County, in southern Sweden with its seat located to the town of Gislaved (pop. 10,083). It credits itself to be cultural and highly industry dominated,^[1] as being part of the Gnosjöregion a high spirited industry area with a high employment and enterprising.

[edit] History

The municipality has been inhabited for a long time, but without any significant urban areas. At the turn of the 19th century it contained some 700 inhabitants. With a continuous population increase it was by 1949 eligible to receive rights as a köping, comparable to town rights. Just in case, a coat of arms was also designed for the occasion, traditionally used by the Cities of Sweden. When the municipal reform was carried out in the 1970s, Gislaved adapted the still unused coat of arms as the municipal arms. The arms depict the insignia for a historical hostel nearby.

There are a total of 19 churches in the municipality, the oldest from 1350. In the small town of Burseryd is a church bell that is even older. Its inscription was made with the Futhark alphabet and reads in translation "The year Anno Domine 1238 was this bell made. Bero wrote the inscription".^[2] It is today the second oldest church bell in Sweden.

[edit] Geography

There are six nature reserves in the municipality. Visiting them one may see several rare plants and animals, including the provincial flower the Twinflower (Linnaea borealis), the only flower named after the botanist Carl von Linné. In the south-east part of the municipality the shores of lake Bolmen stretches, that has its main part in the Ljungby municipality. It is the tenth largest lake in Sweden and offers good possibilities to fishing, canoeing and other nature activities.

Gislaved used to have a large Tire-Factory under the same name as the town. That has recently been shut down, losing many jobs to the communist region.

[edit] Sights

The Scandinavian Raceway, near Anderstorp, was built in 1968.

[edit] References

^ 1: Official homepage
^ 2: The Swedish translation at the webpage reads: "Året efter herrens födelse 1238 blev denna klocka gjord. Bero skrev skriften".