Falun is a historic city and a world heritage site located in Dalarna County, Sweden. Dalarna itself is a historic province of Sweden and a popular weekend destination for Swedes, known for its beautiful landscape, deep woods and scenic fishing lakes. Falun is home to a copper mine that is no longer used, but once was an important business for the this area. The copper mine and the city of Falun were added to the list of world heritage sites in 2001.

It was here, where the famous falun red paint were first used to paint cottages and barns as early as the 16th century. At the mine, water was used to clean boxes and equipment and to wash away dirt. This wastewater, which was a by-product of mining, contained iron oxides and copper. Soon locals discovered that mixing it with some oil and starch creates a perfect paint for decoration and preservation of wooden surfaces. Now this color it’s a trademark of Scandinavian houses and farm buildings, usually referred to as Swedish red or Falu red.

Images: Wikipedia, Max Pixel