Lake · Sweden
Mälaren
Mälaren is the third-largest lake in Sweden and stretches about 120 km from west to east. Stockholm, the capital, lies where the lake meets the Baltic Sea.
Picture credit: Holger.Ellgaard (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Jakub Hałun (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Jakub Hałun (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Mälaren?
Countries on its shores: Sweden.
Middle of the lake: 59.38° N, 17.55° E
The story behind it
In the time of the Vikings, Mälaren was not a lake at all but a bay of the Baltic Sea, and seagoing ships sailed deep into it. After the ice of the Ice Age had melted, the land slowly rose. By about the year 1200 the entrance had become so shallow that big ships could no longer pass, and the bay turned into a freshwater lake. Even today its surface lies only about 70 cm above sea level. Mälaren has more than 1 200 islands. On Björkö lies Birka, an old Viking trading town, and on Lovön stands Drottningholm Palace; both are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Towns such as Västerås, Eskilstuna and Strängnäs lie on its shores. With 33 kinds of fish, it has more fish species than any other lake in Sweden, and about 1.3 million people get their drinking water from it.
Find it on the globe
Mälaren is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How big is Mälaren?
Mälaren covers about 1 140 km², though some sources give about 1 090 km², depending on how it is measured. It is about 120 km long.
Was Mälaren always a lake?
No. In the Viking Age it was a bay of the Baltic Sea. The land slowly rose, and by about 1200 the bay had become a lake.
Which famous places lie on Mälaren?
Birka, a Viking trading town on the island of Björkö, and Drottningholm Palace on Lovön are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Stockholm, the capital, lies at the eastern end of the lake.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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