Nordmarks museum


Useful Information

Location: Nordmark, 15 km north of Filipstad, 45 km south of Hagfors, 280 km west of Stockholm. Turn off towards Sandsjön then left into Hembygdsvägen.
Open: APR to MAY Mon-Fri 11-17.
JUN to AUG Mon-Fri 11-17, Sat, Sun 13-17.
SEP Mon-Fri 11-17.
OCT to MAR after appointment.
[2007]
Fee:
Classification: MineIron Mine
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address: Nordmarks museum, Tel: +46-590-50404, Fax: +46-590-50904. E-mail: contact
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
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History

1413 first written mention in a mining charter issued by King Erik XIII of Pomerania.
1628 order by the Swedish crown that all mines be surveyed.
1890 eleven mining fields and nine ironworks under operation.
1894 2,664 people live in Nordmark Parish, most of them working in the mining and ore-processing industry.
1980 last mine in the Nordmark closed.
2003 550 people live in Nordmark Parish.

Geology

The main ore was black iron ore.

Description

Nordmark is a number of villages and settlements covering an area of 5 km radius from the Nordmark Church. It was named after the channels which connect the abundant lakes, which are called nor in Swedish. In this area are some fifteen mining fields, each containing several mines, and five iron furnaces.

Mining started in the early Middle Ages. When the first written account mentions the mines, mining was already under way for a considerable time. It is impossible to determine the exact start of the mining. But this is most likely the place were the very first mines in Sweden existed. And in the first centuries a number of independent mine owners extracted ore from the same field. And each of those mines had its own name. When the mines were later united, they got names in plural.

The heyday of the mines was between 1650 and 1750, when the Filipstad mining district accounted for some 10% of the total world production of iron. The mining industry was a mayor employer and thousands of people lived directly from this industry. Today, after the industry is gone, the population has become much smaller.