MALAR, a lake of Sweden, extending 73 m. westward from Stockholm, which lies at its junction with the Saltsjo, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The height of the lake normally only reaches 2 ft. above sea-level, and its outflow is sometimes reversed. The area is 449 sq.m., and the deepest sounding is 210 feet. It contains numerous islands and its outline is very irregular, the mean breadth being about 15 m. but an arm extends northward for 3o m. nearly to the city of Uppsala. The lake is connected by navigable channels with lake Hjelmar, to the south-west, and the Baltic to the south, by the Sodertelge canal and by two channels at Stock holm. The more important towns, besides Stockholm, are Vesteras on the north, Sodertelge and Eskilstuna near the south shore. Many of the business men of Stockholm have residences on the shores of the lake. On Drottningholm is a palace built by Nico demus Tessin in the 17th century on the site of one built by John III. in the 16th century. At Mariefred on the south shore there is
the castle of Gripsholm (1537), with four towers built by Gusta vus Vasa, containing a large collection of portraits. On the north ward arm of the lake is the palace of Rosenberg, now a school of gunnery. On the same arm is Sigtuna, whose ruined churches are a memorial of its former rank among the principal towns of Sweden. On Bjorko, an island in the eastern part of the lake, there was a large settlement of earlier importance than Sigtuna. Here a cross commemorates the preaching of Christianity by St. Ansgar in 829. On the northern arm about Io m. south of Uppsala, there is the château of Skokloster, occupying the site of a monastery.