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Mining Area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun

Sweden
Date of Inscription: 2001
Criteria: (ii)(iii)(v)
Core zone: 42.82 ha
Buffer zone: 3499.959961 ha
Town of Falun, Dalarna Province
N60 36 17 E15 37 51
Ref: 1027

Brief Description

The enormous mining excavation known as the Great Pit at Falun is the most striking feature of a landscape that illustrates the activity of copper production in this region since at least the 13th century. The 17th-century planned town of Falun with its many fine historic buildings, together with the industrial and domestic remains of a number of settlements spread over a wide area of the Dalarna region, provide a vivid picture of what was for centuries one of the world's most important mining areas.

Justification for Inscription

Criterion ii Copper mining at Falun was influenced by German technology, but this was to become the major producer of copper in the 17th century and exercised a profound influence on mining technology in all parts of the world for two centuries.

Criterion iii The entire Falun landscape is dominated by the remains of copper mining and production, which began as early as the 9th century and came to an end in the closing years of the 20th century.

Criterion v The successive stages in the economic and social evolution of the copper industry in the Falun region, from a form of “cottage industry” to full industrial production, can be seen in the abundant industrial, urban, and domestic remains characteristic of this industry that still survive.

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