The biggest slide in the mine’s history
The great collapse of 1687 is one of the most known events in Falun Mines history. The mine workers that it had started to sound strange and disturbing in the rock. And sure enough, during the Midsummer weekend of 1687 the biggest slide ever occured. Below ground, rubble masses were found as far down as 350 metres under ground.
The Great Pit, with a circumference of 1,6 kilometers and a depth of 95 metres, was what appeared afterwards. The incident became known all over Sweden, and also in Europe, because not a single miner lost their life – they had been given time off to celebrate midsummer.
Discover our QR-codes and perhaps the eagle owl
Take a walk around the open pit and enjoy the view over Falun. You pass a series of historic buildings and with the help of the signs with QR-codes that are placed around the area, you can watch videos where our guides tells you about where you are.
There is also a viewpoint at the edge of the Great Pit. If you are lucky you can catch a glimpse of the great eage owl, one of the world’s largest owls, nesting i in the Great Pit.
It is not allowed to fly with drones over the Great Pit beacuse the eagle owl can be disturbed.