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Falun Municipality

(Redirected from Falun)
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Falun is a Municipality in Dalarna County, in central Sweden. The municipality covers an area of 2052.1 km². Of the total population of 54 426, 26 609 are male, and 27 817 are female. The population density of the community is 27 inhabitants per km².

The city of Falun received its privileges in 1641. By then Falun was already one of the largest cities in Sweden. The town of Falun is known to have existed in the 14th century as a market place for the surrounding lands. Mining for copper had been a local business since the mid-1200's and the organisation for the extracting of copper and gold from the Great Copper Mountain (Stora Kopparberg) is believed to be the oldest still existing enterprise in the world, proved active since 1347. Falun is located in the Bergslagen district, and the mining area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Stora Kopparberg (Great Copper Mountain), which also was the name of the mining company of Falun, is today a part of Stora Enso.

Today the city of Falun has a population of 35,930 (1996) and together with its neighbour city of Borlänge it forms a city area with close to 100,000 inhabitants. Falun is the city of residence in Dalarna County, and is still an important service and industrial city although the mine itself is closed. The city also holds part of the University College of Dalecarlia (Dalarnas högskola) and each year it hosts the Swedish Ski Games by its skiing arena Lugnet. Falun has also applied for the Olympic Winter Games but hasn't received them yet.

The city's most successful sport team is the bandy team Falu BK which has played in the Swedish top division for many years.

In the nearby area of Falun lies the small village of Sågmyra with about 1000 inhabitants. In the early 20th century Sågmyra was the base for a vast production of blankets in the Tidstrand factory. Today, Sågmyra is a great place to visit with its wonderful nature and great candy shop, Karéns.

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Last updated: 10-29-2005 02:13:46