Dalarnas Museum, County museum in Falun, Sweden.
Dalarnas Museum is a county museum complex in central Falun, next to the Faluån river. Its main building, designed by Hakon Ahlberg and opened in 1962, is meant to resemble a castle, with walls laid in monk bond. It is joined to Falu konsthall, built in 1935 and also by Ahlberg, whose entrance figure is by Eric Grate. A 1984 extension by Jack Hansson links the museum to a former merchant's house on Stigaregatan.
The museum's roots go back to Dalarnas Fornminnesförening, founded in 1862 as the country's sixth antiquities association. In 1883 it acquired its first museum building, the old gymnasium of Trivialskolan, and in 1892 opened as Dala Fornsal. After a move to Wallmanska villan in 1926 and the villa's demolition in the mid-1950s, the present building by architect Hakon Ahlberg opened on 3 May 1962.
The permanent exhibitions are organised by theme: costume and textiles, Dala paintings, Dala horses, the World Heritage city and the industrial landscape. The Dala horse and the painted wall panels are the region's best-known craft products, and the museum holds one of Sweden's largest collections of both. The Selma Lagerlöf room preserves the library and study from 1910, when the author lived in Falun and wrote En herrgårdssägen, the Jerusalem books and Nils Holgersson's Wonderful Journey.
The museum stands by Faluån in central Falun, and its building is joined to Falu konsthall, which faces Medborgarplatsen. The entrance is marked by a figure by Eric Grate. A restaurant inside looks out over the river, the Falan cinema and the old fire station. The 1984 extension along Stigaregatan added offices, an auditorium and a children's workshop.
The museum holds the personal library collection of Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf, a literary archive that originated in the region. It also displays electric guitars made by Hagström, connecting Dalarna's heritage to modern music history.
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