Southeast of Lidköping, 24km/15mi from the shores of the lake, lies the little town of Skara (pop. 18,000), which grew up round an ancient place of assembly (ting) and cult site and during the Middle Ages became a center of Christian missionary activity and the see of a bishop. A seminary for priests established in the 13th century was the forerunner of the grammar school founded in 1641. The Cathedral, originally Gothic (1312-50), was much altered in later centuries but preserves its High Gothic choir (13th C.) and nave (14th century). The towers were added during an early 19th century rebuilding.
After a clumsy restoration in the late 19th century the church was largely restored to its original character after a fire in 1947. In the aisle is the marble sarcophagus of Erik Soop, a cavalry colonel who saved Gustavus Adolphus's life in 1629, during the Thirty Years War. In the Romanesque crypt under the choir can be seen the tomb of one of the first bishops, Adalvard.
The Skara Sommarland is a well-known amusement park with a noted water park featuring water chutes and artificial rafts.
Opposite the Cathedral in Skara is the Diocesan Library (1857), and farther north can be found the Municipal Park (Stadsträdgården), with Skaraborg County Museum and the Fornbyn open-air museum, which together give a picture of life in this part of Sweden in earlier times. The open-air museum contains a number of old peasants' houses and a church.
In Skara's Stortorg is an attractive bronze fountain by Nils Sjögren (1894). To the west of the square the picturesque Rådhusgata (Town Hall Street) is an old market street still paved with cobbles. To the east of the town center is a leisure park, Skara Sommarland.
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