Great Copper Mountain

Development

The mining of copper on Tiskasjöberg ( Stora Kopparberget ) probably began in the 9th century and is filed reached occupied since the 13th century. The heyday of the mine was in the 17th century, when the mine of Falun stood for two -thirds of the world's copper production. But not only copper was recovered, the mine at the time was also the largest gold and second-largest silver producer in Sweden.

Since the reduction was run pretty haphazard, it always came back to cave-ins, and in 1687 plunged a large part of a pit. Fortunately, this happened exactly at Midsummer, one of Sweden's biggest festivals, so no one was killed. The Ping for Stora Stöten today is 95 m deep and 350 m wide.

In the 18th century, the mine became less important, although it in the 19th century was an important copper producer far. In the 20th century, although mining activities continued, but the mined ore now consisted of sulfur (30% ), zinc (5.5% ), lead ( 2 %) and only 0.4 % copper and a small amount of gold and silver.

Today, the mining museum and since 2001 a part of the World Heritage Falun Kopparbergslagen.

By-products of mining are the red color pigment Falun red, which became Sweden's national color and is still in production, as well as the sausage Falukorv.

• Pit in the wide-angle
• Former administrative buildings
• Mine of Falun - Stora Stöten
• Mine of Falun - visit mine

Literary reception

The mine of Falun has also found its way into the German language literature:

• Achim von Arnim 's First miner eternal youth, ballad from the novel poverty, wealth, guilt and repentance of the Countess Dolores
• Johann Peter Hebel, Unexpected Reunion
• E. T. A. Hoffmann, The mines at Falun
• Hugo von Hofmannsthal, The mine at Falun ( music by Rudolf Wagner- Régeny, world premiere at the Salzburg Festival 1961)
• Friedrich Rückert, The golden wedding
• Georg Trakl, Ellis Poems
• Karl Bernhard von Trinius, The miner's corpse
• Richard Wagner, libretto for The mines at Falun

Background: Falun disappeared in 1677 shortly before his wedding, the miner Fet Matt Israelsson. He was found until 1719 and was identified by his former bride. By vitriol in the pit, his body was almost completely preserved.