Ecomuseum Bergslagen ( sv, Ekomuseum Bergslagen) is an

open-air museum An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is “the unconfined atmosphere� ...

in the western part of the former mining and smelting region of

Bergslagen Bergslagen is a historical, cultural, and linguistic region located north of Lake Mälaren in northern Svealand, Sweden, traditionally known as a mining district. In Bergslagen, the mining and metallurgic industries have been important since th ...

in central

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The museum opened in 1986 and is today the world's largest

ecomuseum An ecomuseum is a museum focused on the identity of a place, largely based on local participation and aiming to enhance the welfare and development of local community, local communities. Ecomuseums originated in France, the concept being develope ...

. The museum is a joint project of the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Ludvika Ludvika () is a bimunicipal city and the seat of Ludvika Municipality, Dalarna County within the country of Sweden, with 14,498 inhabitants in 2010. Overview The conurbation of Ludvika extends over the border of Smedjebacken Municipality, where ...

Smedjebacken Smedjebacken is a locality and the seat of Smedjebacken Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden, with 5,100 inhabitants in 2010. Geographically, the town Smedjebacken is situated by the lake Barken, with an area of , which in turn belongs to the K ...

Fagersta Fagersta is a locality and the seat of Fagersta Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden, with 11,130 inhabitants in 2010. Geography The city is located at the junction of two railways between Ludvika-Västerås and Avesta (Krylbo)-Örebro, ...

Norberg Norberg () is a locality and the seat of Norberg Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden with 4,518 inhabitants in 2010. Best known for the Norbergfestival which is Scandinavias biggest electronic music festival, organized in an old iron ore ...

Skinnskatteberg Skinnskatteberg () is a locality and the seat of Skinnskatteberg Municipality in Västmanland County Västmanland County ( sv, Västmanlands län) is a county or ''län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Södermanland, Örebro, ...

, Surahammar and

Hallstahammar Hallstahammar () is a locality and the seat of Hallstahammar Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden with 10,478 inhabitants in 2010. Overview The King Gustaf Vasa built Strömsholm Castle along the lake about 1558. Its current appearance g ...

. Two provincial museums in

Dalarna Dalarna () is a '' landskap'' (historical province) in central Sweden. English exonyms for it are Dalecarlia () and the Dales. Dalarna adjoins Härjedalen, Hälsingland, Gästrikland, Västmanland and Värmland Värmland () also known a ...

and

Västmanland County Västmanland County ( sv, Västmanlands län) is a county or '' län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Södermanland, Örebro, Gävleborg, Dalarna and Uppsala. The county also has a stretch of shoreline towards Mälaren (Sweden's ...

participate in the project. In 1998 Ecomuseum Bergslagen was awarded as the best industrial history museum in Europe with the Luigi Micheletti Award.

The museum

Ecomuseum Bergslagen is a 750 square kilometre area reaching from Lake

Mälaren Mälaren ( , , or ), historically referred to as Lake Malar in English, is the third-largest freshwater lake in Sweden (after Vänern and Vättern). Its area is 1,140 km2 and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from e ...

in the south to

Forest Finns Forest Finns ( fi, Metsäsuomalaiset, Norwegian bokmål: ''Skogfinner'', Norwegian nynorsk: ''Skogfinnar'', sv, Skogsfinnar) were Finnish migrants from Savonia and Northern Tavastia in Finland who settled in forest areas of Sweden proper and No ...

forests in the north. It takes about three hours by car to travel from north to south and the visitors travel on their own through the landscape. About 60 sites describe how human beings have used the region's natural resources to survive over time. The history of production of

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

is the theme of the museum. Bergslagen was once the most important iron area in Sweden. You can follow the history of mining for more than 2000 years – from 400 BC until today. Ekomuseum Bergslagen shows mythical pre-historic ironwork sites with historical

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

es and smithy,

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...

s, and modern

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

businesses along the vital transportation route, the Strömsholms Canal. But also castles, such as

Strömsholm Palace Strömsholm Palace, sometimes called Strömsholm Castle ( sv, Strömsholms slott), is a Swedish royal palace. The baroque palace is built on the site of a fortress from the 1550s, located on an island in the Kolbäcksån river at the west end of ...

, workers' homes in

and

Grängesberg Grängesberg () is a locality situated in Ludvika Municipality, Dalarna County Dalarna County ( sv, Dalarnas län) is a county or '' län'' in central Sweden (Svealand). It borders on the counties of Uppsala, Jämtland, Gävleborg, Västman ...

and Forest Finns simple settlements and cottages near

Grangärde Grangärde is a locality situated in Ludvika Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden, with 351 inhabitants in 2010. ''Grangärde Court District'', or ''Grangärde tingslag'', was a district of Dalarna in Sweden. The court district ('' tingslag'') ser ...

. The museum includes several

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

areas, local museums, electric power stations, historical railways ( Engelsberg-Norberg Railway), and a historical railway museum ( Railway museum Grängesberg). One of the attractions is

Lapphyttan Lapphyttan or Lapphyttejarn in Norberg Municipality, Sweden, may be regarded as the type site for the Medieval Blast Furnace. Its date is probably between 1150 and 1350. It produced cast iron, which was then fined to make ferritic wrought iron c ...

Norberg Municipality Norberg Municipality (''Norbergs kommun'') is a municipality in Västmanland County in central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Norberg. History The area, located within Bergslagen, the mining district of central Sweden, has histor ...

, may be regarded as the

type site In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron A ...

for the

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

Blast Furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

. Its date is probably between 1150 and 1350. It produced

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

, which was then fined to make ferritic

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...

cake or bun-like blooms. Another attraction is

Engelsberg Ironworks Engelsberg Ironworks ( sv, Engelsbergs bruk) is an ironworks in ''Ängelsberg'', a village in Fagersta Municipality in Västmanland, Sweden. It was built in 1681 by Per Larsson Gyllenhöök (1645-1706) and developed into one of the world's most mod ...

( sv, Engelsbergs bruk), an

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...

Ängelsberg Ängelsberg () is a village situated in Fagersta Municipality, Västmanland County, Sweden with 144 inhabitants in 2005. It is famous for the Engelsberg Ironworks Engelsberg Ironworks ( sv, Engelsbergs bruk) is an ironworks in ''Ängelsberg'', a ...

. It was built in 1681 and is listed as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

since 1993.Ekomuseum Bergslagen, information folder.

Gallery

Finngammelgården 2009.jpg, Local museum "Finngammelgården" Ludvika Gammelgård 2011c.jpg, Local museum "Ludvika Gammelgård" Klenshyttan 2013 02.jpg, "Klenshyttan" in Ludvika Municipality Hammarbacken 2013.jpg, "Hammarbacken" in Ludvika Grängesbergs gruva maskinhall 2012.jpg, Mining area in Grängesbergsgruvan Lokmuseet 2009fff.jpg, Railway museum Grängesberg Stora Hagen exteriör 2013a.jpg, Workers' homes in Grängesberg Engelsberg-Huettenwerk-01.jpg, Engelsberg Ironworks

References

External links

Ekomuseum Bergslagen, official website.

Järnet på Lapphyttan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecomuseum Bergslagen Cultural heritage of Sweden Museums in Västmanland County Museums in Dalarna County Industry museums in Sweden Open-air museums in Sweden Ecomuseums