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Falun

Stora torget, the Great Square in central Falun

Coat of arms

Falun

Coordinates: 60°36′N 15°38′E / 60.6, 15.633

Country

Sweden

Municipality

Falun Municipality

County

Dalarna County

Province

Dalarna

Charter

1641

Area http://www.scb.se/statistik/MI/MI0810/2005A01B/T%E4torternami0810tab1.xls

- Total

26.40 km² (10.2 sq mi)

Population (2005-12-31)

- Total

36,447

- Density

1,380/km² (3,574.2/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

- Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

Mining Area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun*
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party	Sweden
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iii, v
Reference	1027
Region†	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	2001 (25th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO.

Falun in Sweden

For the spiritual practice, see Falun Gong.

Falun (pronounced [ˈfɑːlʉn]) is a city in Dalarna, central Sweden, the seat of Falun Municipality and the capital of Dalarna County. The city is the home of 36,500 of the municipality\'s 55,000 inhabitants

Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with close to 100,000 inhabitants.

Falun is still today an important service and industrial city even though the mine is closed (since 1992).

History

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-1200s 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, when its charter was granted by King Magnus IV of Sweden. The first share in the company is dated as early as 1288.

However, one has to remember that an enterprise at that time was nothing more than a cooperation among the owners, each contributing with a share of money for constructions, tools, etc. necessary to run the organisation. And depending on the contribution they could utilise the facilities and share the profit equal to the relative share they contributed with.

The city of Falun received its privileges in 1641. By then Falun was already one of the largest cities in Sweden.

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

For education, the city holds part of the University College of Dalarna (Högskolan Dalarna).

In sports, Falun hosts the annual Swedish Ski Games at its skiing arena Lugnet, Falun. The city\'s most successful sport team is the bandy team Falu BS which has played in the Swedish top division for many years. Also, IBF Falun, the floorball team, have been very successful on both the male and female side.

Lugnet, Falun Stadion has also hosted the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships three times: 1954, 1974, and most recently in 1993.

The city lost out to Calgary, Canada in 1981 for the 1988 Winter Olympics. Again, Falun applied for the 1992 Winter Olympics but lost out to Albertville, France in 1986. The city lost despite the best efforts of one of ABBA\'s singers who recorded a single in support of the bid.

Falun is the hometown of The Battle, one of the world\'s most famous snowboard competitions.

Iron and Copper byproducts from the mine are still used as a paint ingredient, in the production of the nationally well known and culturally important Falu Red paint, particularly used for wooden houses.