unity
out of diversity
The wooden horse
"Fäboden"
The building tradition
The local history movement
Arts, crafts and peasant costume
Dalarnas museum
180 museums
The realm of the "kurbits"
The Rättvik and Leksand culture centers
The Falun coppermine
Industrial history
Graphic art
Avesta Art
Carl Larsson-gården
Anders Zorn
Folk music
Dalhalla
Music by lake Siljan
Falun Folk music Festival
Jussi Björling
Jump for joy
Theatre indoors and out
Dance in Dalarna
"Film i Dalarna"
 The museum at the Falun mine was opened in 1922, and was the first technical museum in Sweden. Photo: Dalarna.se. |
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| THE FALUN COPPER MINE A SITE OF UNPARALLELED HISTORICAL INTEREST • The lift takes visitors down to a depth of 55 metres. Full of expectation, they step out and follow the guide through passages and galleries down to Creutz Schakt, a pit shaft 208 metres deep. Here, it is cold and damp and the only sound is that of dripping water. Looking into the surrounding darkness you can almost discern the endless labyrinths of passages, caved-in galleries and mine shafts. Can it really be possible that all this is the work of mortals, that they spent the whole of their working lives below ground? In olden times, the mine at Falun was world famous for its copper and it soon became a big tourist attraction. As far back as 1702, a visitor wrote:” He who has not seen Stora Kopparberget has not seen Sweden”. No one knows when copper mining started but we do know that the mine was already operating by the year 1000. It gradually acquired greater economic and political significance. During a period in the 17th century, when Sweden was a great power, the Falun copper mine accounted for 70% of the world production of copper. The risk of a cave-in was great and a cave-in did occur in 1677. As a result, a miner known as Fet Mats disappeared in the debris somewhere in the galleries. When he was found, 40 years later, he looked just as young as the day he died. The body had been preserved by the air down in the mine and by the water containing vitriol. He achieved fame all over the world as the “petrified miner”. The event received much publicity, especially in German literature and Rickard Wagner even produced an outline for an opera based on Fet Mats. The Falun mine retained its position as Sweden’s biggest industrial workplace for a long time and was a major producer of copper well into the 19th century. The mine was in operation until 8 December 1992, when the last blast echoed through the mine, signalling the end of a thousand years of copper mining.
The area surrounding the mine, large parts of the surrounding landscape and the urban environment preserved since the 17th century, together form a unique historical site from our industrial past. The whole area has been declared to be of great historical interest and has now been nominated for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage list. |
 The red painted dwellings in Elsborg, the miners’ own district in Falun. Photo: Dalarna.se. FALUN'S OWN RED PAINT If the writer, August Strindberg, had been allowed to decide, instead of blue and yellow, the Swedish flag would have been red and green – green like the forests and red like the small red houses dotting the country landscape. Then, as now, the buildings were painted in Falu Rödfärg, manufactured from ruddle, the red ochre from the mine. Red pigment has been produced on an industrial scale since 1764. Over the centuries, the red paint has brightened up the populated areas of Sweden. It has become a national symbol. In fact, Sweden is the only country to have an abundance of red houses with white corners and gable ends.
Falu Rödfärg has many good qualities. Apart from being attractive, it is easy
to apply, effective
and it provides good protection.
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