Discover a thousand years of history
We often say that Falun Mine is a spot with a millennium of history.
When you visit the Mine Museum, you realise that Falun Mine even tells a tale of Sweden and Europe over several centuries. In our interactive exhibitions both young people and grown-ups can do research into the role over time played by Falun and its mine.
It was copper sheeting from Falun Mine that was used to roof the great 17th-century royal palace of Versailles in France. And, speaking of royalty, almost all of Sweden’s kings and queens have been down the mine. One of them was King Gustaf II Adolf who had the Vasa warship built in the 1600s. She sailed with coins and cannon on board, made of copper from Falun Mine. Why not, during the summer tourist season, have a look at a couple of the Vasa coins, on loan from the Vasa Museum in Stockholm?
What was life like underground in the old days?
In addition to an exciting journey of discovery through history, the Mine Museum offers you an opportunity to try life underground:
You can climb mine ladders, feel the weight of copper ore and, if you dare, feel what it was like to have your leg amputated in the mine’s own emergency medical station (where several miners ended up).
Learn more about mining operations and how they were carried out through history. Try out forming rock by mixing minerals.
The Mine Museum was Sweden’s first technical museum; total rebuilding was completed in 2017. Today, it tells the whole story of Falun Mine, from the Viking Age, when the copper ore mining started, until the mine’s being declared a World Heritage site in 2001.
See which celebrities have visited the mine
Several well-known figures have visited the Falun Mine over the years. There is a timeline in the museum showing royalty, inventors, scientists and other celebs.
One of them was scientist Carl von Linné (born Carl Linnaeus) who resurfaced from a mine visit in quite a state, likening what he had experienced to hell. He had descended on rickety ladders and peered down into bottomless black holes; it is said he had difficulty breathing at 268 metres below ground.
Another very famous figure was inventor Christopher Polhem who was called to Falun Mine after the great collapse when Stora Stöten (the Great Pit) was formed in 1687. As innovator, or senior engineer, he lived at Konstmästargården which today is a B&B.
Want to know about more celebrity visitors?
To give you a taste of what to expect as a visitor to the museum, here is more about the mine’s history on our digital timeline
