Falun Mine

The first written record of the copper mine at Falun in central Sweden dates from 1288: in exchange for an estate, the Bishop of Västerås acquired a one-eighth share in the mine. A charter of 1347 set up a system of free miners who held shares in proportion to the smelters they owned.

Miners heated the rock with fire until it cracked and then broke it with wedges, a method used until the end of the 19th century. Production peaked in the 17th century, with more than 3,000 tonnes of copper in 1650. The income paid for Sweden's wars, and the Privy Council called the mine the nation's treasury. On Midsummer's Eve 1687 a large part of the mine collapsed, but it was one of the two days a year when the miners did not work.

As copper declined in the 18th century, the company turned to iron, timber and Falu red paint. The last blast was fired on 8 December 1992. The Great Pit, Stora Stöten, the town planned in the 17th century and the miners' cottages were inscribed in 2001.