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Sigtuna is a locality situated in the eponymous Sigtuna Municipality, in Stockholm County, Sweden with 9,689 inhabitants in 2020. It is the namesake even though the seat of the municipality is in another locality, Märsta. Sigtuna is for historical reasons still often referred to as a stad.
Sigtuna is situated at the bay Skarven, stretching around Upplands-Bro and a part of Lake Mälaren. Present-day Sigtuna, a harbour town that was established around 980, developed about east of Old Sigtuna, which, according to Old Norse religion, was previously the home of the widely revered god Odin.
Another theory considers the name to be an ancient prestigious "wanderwort", meaning "strong fortress", like the Celtic languages toponym Segodunum, from Proto-Germanic * , Old Norse Sigtún, cf. Proto-Germanic *- "victory": Gothic language , Old Norse , Old English , Old Frisian sige, sīge, Old High German .Koch, John T. (2020). CELTO-GERMANIC Later Prehistory and Post-Proto-Indo-European vocabulary in the North and West .
It operated as a royal and commercial centre for some 250 years, and was one of the most important cities of Sweden. During a brief period at the end of the 10th and beginning of the 11th century, Sweden's first coins were minted here. St. Mary's Church, built in the 13th century by the Dominican order as a monastery church, still remains largely intact. The Dominican monastery played an important role in the Swedish Middle Ages and produced many important church officials, among them many Swedish archbishops. Many church and monastery ruins still stand, including St. Pers Church ( S:t Pers kyrkoruin) dating the 1100s, St. Olof Church ( S:t Olofs kyrkoruin) dated from around the middle of the 11th century, and St. Lars Church ( S:t Lars kyrkoruin) dating from the middle of the 13th century.
In 1187, Sigtuna was attacked and pillaged by raiders from across the Baltic Sea, possibly from Curonians, or Estonians from the island of Saaremaa (Oeselians),"Till frågan om Sigtunas combustering år 1187" Enn Tarvel (2007). Sigtuna hukkumine. Haridus, 2007 (7-8), p 38–41 or Karelians and Novgorodians, Archaeological excavations have not verified the traditions of destruction of the town. Normal life in Sigtuna continued until the town started to slowly lose its importance during the 13th century due to navigability problems caused by post-glacial rebound.
The current coat of arms can be traced to the town's first known seal, dating from 1311. According to a legend (possibly inspired by the town arms), Sigtuna was once the Royal seat, but this cannot be confirmed. The crown may also symbolize the large royal mint which was located in the town. Since 1971 the coat of arms has been valid for the much larger Sigtuna Municipality.
In the late 19th century Sigtuna still hosted only about 600 people, and was the smallest town in Sweden. The town remained insignificant until the second half of the 20th century. Much of the population growth can be related to Stockholm Arlanda Airport (IATA: ARN), situated some 10 km from Sigtuna.
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