Jönköping City Map Poster

About Jönköping

The city is known for its long history as a military stronghold, and today it has strong associations with the Swedish Army. It was also the birthplace of Saint Brigitta of Sweden. The city's coat of arms depicts two moose antlers on a golden shield; this image is widely used by Jönköping residents as their personal symbol (see ). Jönköping was founded in about 1087 by King Canute I before he had conquered Denmark and Norway under his rule. He built Jarnbro, which translates to "iron bridge". This gave the name to present-day Jönköpings Län or County ("län" means county), where Småland historically belonged until 1645 when it became part of Östergötland County instead (Östergötlands län).