Ecomuseum Bergslagen () is an

open-air museum An open-air museum is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings" ...

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 t ...

in central

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. 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 develop ...

. The museum is a joint project of the

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

Ludvika Ludvika () is a bimunicipal Urban areas in Sweden, 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 Smedjebacke ...

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 ...

, Fagersta, Norberg, Skinnskatteberg, Surahammar and

Hallstahammar Hallstahammar () is a urban areas of Sweden, 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 ...

. Two provincial museums in

Dalarna Dalarna (; ), also referred to by the English exonyms Dalecarlia and the Dales, is a (historical province) in central Sweden. Dalarna adjoins Härjedalen, Hälsingland, Gästrikland, Västmanland and Värmland. It is also bordered by Nor ...

and

Västmanland County Västmanland County () is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Södermanland County, Södermanland, Örebro County, Örebro, Gävleborg County, Gävleborg, Dalarna County, Dalarna and Uppsala Coun ...

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

in the south to

Forest Finns Forest Finns (, Bokmål, Norwegian bokmål: ''skogfinner'', Nynorsk, Norwegian nynorsk: ''skogfinnar'', ) were Finns, Finnish migrants from Savonia (historical province), Savonia and Northern Tavastia (historical province), Tavastia in Finland w ...

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; it has symbol Fe () 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, forming much of Earth's o ...

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 supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...

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 simi ...

s, and modern

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

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

Strömsholm Palace Strömsholm Palace, sometimes called Strömsholm Castle (), is a Sweden, 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 Lake Mälaren. T ...

, workers' homes in

and

Grängesberg Grängesberg () is a locality situated in Ludvika Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden, with 3,481 inhabitants in 2010. The town was dominated by iron-ore extraction at Grängesberg ore field (Grängesbergs malmfält) from the 16th century to 19 ...

and Forest Finns simple settlements and cottages near Grangärde. The museum includes several

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

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 ...

in Norberg Municipality, may be regarded as the

type site In archaeology, a type site (American English) or type-site (British English) 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 H ...

for the

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

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 supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...

. 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 of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

, which was then fined to make ferritic

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

cake or bun-like blooms. Another attraction is

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 ...

(), 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 bloome ...

in Ängelsberg. It was built in 1681 and is listed as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

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

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 Ludvika Municipality Smedjebacken Municipality Fagersta Municipality Skinnskatteberg Municipality Norberg Municipality Hallstahammar Municipality Surahammar Municipality