Åmänningen is a lake situated within the municipalities of

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 ...

and

Surahammar Surahammar ( or ) is a locality and the seat of Surahammar Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden, with 6,179 inhabitants in 2010. History During the reign of Gustav Vasa, there was a hammer in Surahammar. However, it is not known when th ...

Västmanland Västmanland ( or ) is a historical Swedish province, or , in middle Sweden. It borders Södermanland, Närke, Värmland, Dalarna and Uppland. Västmanland means "West Man Land" or, less literally, "The Land of the Western Men", where the "we ...

, and contributes to the primary drainage network of the Norrström River. The lake has an area of 24.7 square kilometers and has an elevation of 76

meters above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level vari ...

. In test fishing,

european perch The European perch (''Perca fluviatilis''), also known as the common perch, redfin perch, big-scaled redfin, English perch, Euro perch, Eurasian perch, Eurasian river perch, Hatch, poor man's rockfish or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the ...

white bream ''Blicca'' is a monospecific genus of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae. The only species in the genus is ''Blicca bjoerkna'', the white bream or silver bream. This species is found in Europe and Western Asia. Distr ...

ruffe The ruffe (''Gymnocephalus cernua''), also known as the Eurasian ruffe or pope, is a freshwater fish found in temperate regions of Europe and northern Asia. It has been introduced into the Great Lakes of North America as an invasive species ...

and

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (pikes). They are commonly found in brackish water, moderately salty and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). T ...

have been caught in the lake. Åmänningen is

's largest lake after

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 and its greatest depth is 64 m (210 ft). Mälaren spans from east to west. The l ...

and

Hjälmaren Hjälmaren ( or ), also spelled Jälmaren, is Sweden's fourth largest lake. It is situated in the Central Swedish lowland and drains through Eskilstunaån into the adjacent Lake Mälaren, which in turn drains into the Baltic Sea, west of Stockhol ...

. Unlike Mälaren and Hjälmaren, Åmänningen is located entirely in Västmanland.

Animals and nature

The most common birds breeding on the islands of Åmänningen and its surroundings are, for example, common

tern Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae, subfamily Sterninae, that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated in eleven genera in a subgroup of the family Laridae, which also ...

black-headed gull The black-headed gull (''Chroicocephalus ridibundus'') is a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic in Europe and Asia, and also locally in smaller numbers in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters fu ...

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

s, Canadian gooses,

great crested grebe The great crested grebe (''Podiceps cristatus'') is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The bird is characterised by its distinctive appearance, featuring striking black, orange-brown, and white plumage, and elaborate courtship displa ...

black-throated loon The black-throated loon (''Gavia arctica''), also known as the Arctic loon and the black-throated diver, is a migratory aquatic bird found in the northern hemisphere, primarily breeding in freshwater lakes in northern Europe and Asia. It winte ...

es, sea hawks, sanpipers and

heron Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...

s. The lake contains perch, pike and zander. There are also signal crayfish. There are also

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

otters Otters are carnivorous mammals in the Rank (zoology), subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic animal, aquatic, or Marine ecology, marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae Family (biology), family, whi ...

and european perch in Åmänningen and its surrounding streams and lakes.

Recreational activities

The settlement around Åmänningen consists largely of holiday homes. There are several smaller villages that are partly recreational, but also areas with only holiday homes. Åmänningen is popular for

canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. In some parts of Europe, canoeing refers to both canoeing and kayaking, with a canoe being called an 'open canoe' or Canadian. A few of the recreational ...

in the summer. There are small local bathing areas.

Recreational fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is occupational fishing activities done for profit; or subsistence fishing, ...

is extensive in Åmänningen with catches of perch, pike and

zander The zander (''Sander lucioperca''), sander or pikeperch, is a species of ray-finned fish from the Family (biology), family Percidae, which also includes perch, Gymnocephalus, ruffe and Darter (fish), darter. It is found in freshwater and brackis ...

. Fishing licenses can be purchased locally. The lake freezes in early winter due to its altitude (about 75 m above sea level). In winter, when the ice has gained enough thickness, the lake is a popular destination for ice skating. The fairway through Åmänningen and to

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 () is an ironworks in '' Ängelsberg'', a village in Fagersta ...

is marked with a dotted line. The bottom of Åmänningen is littered with boulders and there is a risk of running aground, sometimes quite far from shore. Recreational boat harbors are located in

Virsbo Virsbo () is a locality situated in Surahammar Municipality, Västmanland County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norw ...

and Ängelsberg. To the north, the lake Lilla Aspen leads to lake Stora Aspen and on to

Västanfors Västanfors is a district (''stadsdel'') of Fagersta and is located in Fagersta Municipality, Sweden. Notable People From Västanfors * Anitra Steen, Swedish civil servant, politician, and spouse of Sweden's former prime minister Göran Perss ...

. Further travel to the north is via locks. To the south, the locks in Virsbo can be reached by boat. The

Strömsholm canal The Strömsholm Canal () runs from Smedjebacken Smedjebacken is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Smedjebacken Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden, with 5,100 inhabitants in 2010. Geographically, the town Smedjebacken is situat ...

and locks are open for recreational boating during the summer.

Tourism

The station community of Ängelsberg is located on a slope towards Åmänningen. At the end of the 19th century, a colony of artists called the Engelsberg painters emerged here. These included Olof Arborelius, Mauritz Lindström, Ernst Lundström, Axel Fahlcrantz and others. The community grew when the rail link with Stockholm was created. In Ängelsberg there are three houses designed by the famous architect

Isak Gustaf Clason Isak Gustaf Clason (30 July 1856 Falun – 19 July 1930 Rättvik) was a Sweden, Swedish architect. Biography Clason studied engineering and later architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, where he was a student of ...

, namely ( Ulvaklev, Hvilan and Odensnäs). The Ängelsberg Festival offers several days of music events every summer. The Ängelsberg Sculpture Park is adjacent to the community. The Strömsholm canal runs through Åmänningen. The Barkens Steamboat Association operates passenger traffic on the Strömsholm Canal with Ångfartyget Runn. It's a nostalgic trip between

Smedjebacken Smedjebacken is a Urban areas in Sweden, 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 ...

and Ängelsberg, further by train to

Kärrgruvan Kärrgruvan is the name of the northern part of the locality Norberg, located in Norberg Municipality in northwestern Västmanland, Sweden. The locality is mainly famous for its history of industrial mining which lasted for more than 800 years. ...

, and then returning by bus to Smedjebacken.

Iron management

As part of the Strömsholm Canal, Åmänningen was an important transportation route for iron ore and iron. Transports went south with finished products. Iron ore was also transported from

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 or ...

via Ängelsberg to the smelter in Trummelsberg. The canal was superseded by the railway when it was built in the second half of the 19th century. Today, highway 66 runs along the western side of Åmänningen and the railway along the eastern side. The

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

operated from the end of the 17th century until 1919. The mill is now one of Sweden's World Heritage Sites (on the

UNESCO World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

), and is part of the

Ecomuseum Bergslagen Ecomuseum Bergslagen () is an open-air museum in the western part of the former mining and smelting region of Bergslagen in central Sweden. The museum opened in 1986 and is today the world's largest ecomuseum. The museum is a joint project of the m ...

. The mill has a mansion, park, mill offices, workers' housing and industrial buildings. Ängelsberg is the only mill in Sweden that retains both the buildings and most of the technical equipment. Bloomeries in Dunshammar, two km south of Ängelsberg, are the oldest link in a 1500-year tradition of iron making in the area. The furnaces are well preserved and the site is one of the few where you can see

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

blast furnaces in their proper environment.

Oil island

In 1876, an

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...

was established on the island of Barrön, now called Oljeön, in Lake Åmänningen. The factory was used for 26 years. The oil refinery is the oldest preserved in the world. The refinery on the island is open to visitors during the summer. The oil island is an environment in

and is owned by

Preem Preem is a Swedish petroleum and bio-fuel company (even referred to as a petroleum corporation) with approximately 570 petrol stations and two oil refineries in Sweden, Preemraff Göteborg in Gothenburg and Preemraff Lysekil outside of Lysekil ...

. The island is accessible from Ängelsberg station house via a short boat trip with the boat "Petrolia".

Sub-catchment area

Åmänningen is part of the sub-basin (664582–150962) that

SMHI The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (, SMHI) is a Swedish government agency and operates under the Ministry of Climate and Enterprise. SMHI has expertise within the areas of meteorology, hydrology and oceanography, and has exte ...

calls the outlet of Åmänningen. The average altitude is 101 meters above sea level and the area is 96.2 square kilometers. If the 128 upstream catchment areas are included, the cumulative area is 2 680,19 square kilometers. The Kolbäcksån river that drains the catchment area has tributary order 3, which means that the water flows through a total of 3 watercourses before reaching the sea after 187 kilometers. The catchment area consists mostly of forest (58%). The catchment area has 25.55 square kilometers of water surface, giving it a lake percentage of 26.5 percent. The settlements in the area cover an area of 0.93 square kilometers or 1 percent of the catchment area.

Fish

The following fish have been caught in the lake during exploratory fishing: *

European perch The European perch (''Perca fluviatilis''), also known as the common perch, redfin perch, big-scaled redfin, English perch, Euro perch, Eurasian perch, Eurasian river perch, Hatch, poor man's rockfish or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the ...

White bream ''Blicca'' is a monospecific genus of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae. The only species in the genus is ''Blicca bjoerkna'', the white bream or silver bream. This species is found in Europe and Western Asia. Distr ...

* Eurasian ruffe *

Northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (pikes). They are commonly found in brackish water, moderately salty and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). T ...

Zander The zander (''Sander lucioperca''), sander or pikeperch, is a species of ray-finned fish from the Family (biology), family Percidae, which also includes perch, Gymnocephalus, ruffe and Darter (fish), darter. It is found in freshwater and brackis ...

Common bleak The bleak or common bleak (''Alburnus alburnus'') is a small freshwater coarse fish of the family Leuciscidae, which includes the minnows, daces and bleaks. The common bleak is found in Europe and Western Asia. Description The body of the ...

Common roach The roach, or rutilus roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), also known as the common roach, is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the family Cyprinidae, native to most of Europe and western Asia. Fish called roach can be any species of the genera ''Rut ...

European smelt The Smelt or European smelt (''Osmerus eperlanus'') is a species of fish in the family Osmeridae. Appearance The body of the European smelt is typically long, slender and slightly flattened on either side. Larger fish may reach in length. S ...

European cisco ''Coregonus albula'', known as the vendace or as the European cisco, is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is found in lakes in northern Europe, especially Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Russia and Estonia, and in ...

Gallery

File:Landsberget_från_Ängelsberg_med_Ulvaklev.JPG, Åmänningen is covered in snow and ice. Villa Ulvaklev is in the foreground in the lower right corner. Landsberget is visible in the background. The picture is taken from

. File:Landsberget_från_öst_Halvarsviken.JPG, Åmänningen is covered in snow and ice. Landsberget is visible in the background. The picture is taken from Halvarsviken. File:Åmänningen_Oljeön.JPG, Oljeön is in the foreground. The picture is taken from

. File:Ferrypetrolia07010015.jpg, Oljeön with the ferry Petrolia in the foreground. File:Lilla_Aspen_Fagersta_2013.jpg, Lilla Aspen, south of

, 2013. File:Fagersta_och_sjön_Stora_Aspen_sett_från_Landsberget.JPG, Fagersta and lake Stora Aspen seen from Landsberget. File:Sundbo,_Lilla_Aspen_och_Åmänningen_sett_från_Landsberget.JPG, Lilla Aspen and Åmänningen seen from Landsberget File:Åmänningen_och_Ängelsberg_sett_från_Landsberget,_Djupnäs_i_förgrunden.JPG, Åmänningen and Ängelsberg seen from Landsberget, Djupnäs in the foreground.