Falun Copper Mine

For a thousand years the Falun mine produced the copper that made Sweden a great power, and the red pigment from its waste, falu red, that painted the nation's wooden houses. A UNESCO site, it centres on a vast open pit and a mine you descend into on a guided tour, deep beneath the town of Falun.

History

No written record shows when mining began; studies suggest, with much uncertainty, around the year 1000, with nothing significant before 850 and certain operation by 1080, and objects of the 10th century contain its copper. Local farmers first dug and smelted ore for their own needs, until around the time of King Magnus III, in the late 13th century, nobles and merchants from Lübeck took over and improved the methods; the first document, of 1288, records the Bishop of Västerås acquiring a 12.5 per cent share. A charter of 1347 under Magnus IV set up a system of free miners holding shares, a forerunner of the joint stock company, ore was won by fire-setting and roasted in open hearths whose poisonous smoke marked Falun for centuries, and at its 17th-century peak the mine supplied as much as two-thirds of Europe's copper and helped pay for Sweden's wars; mining came to an end in 1992, and in 2001 it became a World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Falun Mine).

What to look for

• The Great Pit - the enormous open crater left by a 17th-century collapse.
• The underground tour - the descent into the historic mine workings.
• Falu red - the story of the red pigment that colours Swedish houses.
• The mining museum - the machinery and history of a thousand years of copper.

When to go

The warm months, when the underground tours run fully; the museum is open more widely but the mine descent is the highlight. Dress warm for underground, cool at any surface temperature.

Before you go

The underground tour is a separate ticket and books up, so plan ahead, and it involves stairs and confined spaces. The surface pit and museum are impressive in themselves. It is in Dalarna, a train or drive from the main routes.

Nearby

Lake Siljan and the Dala horse workshops are nearby in Dalarna; Stockholm is a couple of hours south.

Key facts