It is situated by Göta älv, near the lake Vänern, and has a population of approximately 50,000 in the city proper.

Trollhättan was granted city rights (which today have no legal effect) in 1916 at which time it had about 15,000 inhabitants, now grown to 59,058.

In 1795 the English writer Mary Wollstonecraft visited Trollhattan on her trip through Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

The water that splashed from a large rock at the bottom of the waterfall (before the hydro dam was built) was imagined to look like a troll's hat.

[9] The manufacturing company Nydqvist & Holm AB (now NOHAB) was based in the city of Trollhättan dating from 1847.

It also has a number of industrial facilities, headed by GKN Aerospace (previously known as Volvo Aero) and its contractual suppliers.

As with parallel locations elsewhere in Europe, much of its production has moved from heavy industry to professional services and the creation of intellectual property.

[10] [11] As of 2011, Trollhättan hosts a film production complex known as Trollywood; movies shot there include Show Me Love (Fucking Åmål), Dancer in the Dark, Melancholia, Dogville and studio scenes for Lilya 4-ever.

In 1718 a contract was signed by the government and Christopher Polhem (1661–1751) for construction of a canal between Kattegatt and Lake Vänern and from Vättern to the Baltic Sea.

[17] At the expense of the canal company, a sacristy was built in the north-west in 1896–1897 with a rise to the pulpit, and the same year came glass paintings designed by Folke Zettervall (1862–1955).