NOTE: The Copperworks is currently closed to visitors.
 

The Copperworks

In historical times and even in Swedish culture, copper has been significant. In the mid-1600s, copper, along with iron, was the country’s most important export commodity. The largest copper mine was in Falun, but there were other copper mines as well, such as in Riddarhyttan.
 
Riddarhyttan is located in a very ore-rich area, and both copper and iron have been processed here over the years. Iron production provided more reliable profits, but copper was needed for the roofs of churches and baroque palaces, as well as for household utensils and for making brass and bronze, including cannons.
 
Copper processing in Riddarhyttan dates back to the Middle Ages. The first mention of Gambla riddarehytthen (Old Knight’s Smelter) is from 1437, though it is believed that operations existed even earlier.
A couple of hundred years later, in 1610, a new smelter and a tilt hammer (a hammer with a weight, used among other things for coin minting) were established on the same site where the medieval smelter Munkhyttan had been. A few years later, Riddarhyttan’s copperworks started by the watercourse between Övre and Nedre Skärsjön. The ore was mined in Östergruvan on the other side of Nedre Skärsjön.
 
For several hundred years, copper was produced here in Riddarhyttan. The current copperworks, located just south of Nedre Skärsjön, began construction in 1804 and was put into operation by Riddarhytte Bruk in 1819. In the 1830s, a total of 70 tons of copper was produced here. Some of the raw copper from this site was sent to the mint in Avesta. However, in 1873, the copperworks was shut down because the ore had too low a copper content, making production no longer economically viable.
 
Nevertheless, remnants of the operation remain. These include an old copper storehouse made of stone and a timbered and paneled manager’s residence, both built in 1819. Remains of roasting furnaces and a water tube can also be seen. Around the area, there is a marked hiking trail to explore on your own, but it is currently closed.
 
The copper ore from the mine was a source of wealth that allowed some Swedes to live in abundance. However, many who worked in the industry labored hard. Contemporary accounts describe a desolate landscape poisoned by copper, which made the soil barren, with sulfur smoke hanging heavily over the area. Trees were felled to supply fuel for the furnaces, and the process of extracting raw copper from ore could take up to three months.
 
Facts
An old site for copper production dating back to the Middle Ages.
In the winter of 2005, the Copperworks was transferred to Riddarhyttan’s Viking Association, Tuhundra Naemdimpe, which now maintains the site.
Visits on your own are allowed, but currently, visits are not possible. The site is well-marked. Hiking trail around the area.