Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The main attraction in Mora is the outstanding
Zornmuséet
, showcasing the work of
Sweden's best-known painter,
Anders Zorn
(1860-1920), who moved here in 1896. Most
successful as a portrait painter, he worked in both oil and watercolour and spent periods
living in both St Ives in Britain and Paris. Zorn even went to the United States to paint
American presidents Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and Taft. At the museum, look out
for his larger-than-life self-portrait dressed in wolfskin from 1915 and the especially
pleasing
Midnatt
(Midnight) from 1891, which depicts a woman rowing on Lake Siljan,
her hands blue from the cold night air. The artist's remarkable silver collection, containing
four hundred pieces ranging from tankards to teaspoons, is also on display.
Zorngården
Vasagatan 36 • Mid-May to mid-Sept Mon-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 11am-4pm; mid-Sept to mid-May daily, hourly guided tours at
noon-3pm • 90kr or 140kr with the museum
Across the museum lawn is Anders Zorn's home,
Zorngården
, where the artist and his
wife Emma lived during the early twentieth century. What really makes the place
unusual is its cavernous 10m-high hall with a steeply V-shaped roof, entirely
constructed from wood and decked out in traditional Dalarna designs and patterns,
where the couple lived out their roles as darlings of local society.
Vasaloppsmuséet
Ski Museum • Vasaloppets Hus, Vasagatan • Mid-June to mid-Aug Mon-Wed & Fri-Sun 10am-5pm, Thurs 10am-3pm; mid-Aug to mid-
June Mon-Wed 10am-4.30pm, Thurs 10am-3pm, Fri 10am-noon • 40kr •
W
vasaloppet.se
The other museum in town worth considering is the
Vasaloppsmuséet
; it's east of the
Zorn Museum, on the other side of Vasagatan, and covers the history of the ski race,
Vasaloppet, held on the first Sunday in March. The event commemorates King Gustav
Vasa's return to Mora after he escaped from the Danes on skis; two men from Mora
caught up with him and persuaded him to come back to their town, where they gave
him refuge. The longest cross-country ski race in the world, the competition was the
idea of a local newspaper editor, who organized the first event in 1922; it was won by a
22-year-old from Västerbotten who took seven and a half hours to complete the course.
Today, professionals take barely four hours to cover the 90km. Although the Vasaloppet
enjoys royal patronage (the current Swedish king has skied it), it does have a somewhat
chequered past, since women were forbidden from taking part until 1981. Whilst here,
make sure you watch the half-hour
ilm
(with English subtitles) about the race - the
impressive aerial shots really help to portray the massive scale of the competition.
8
Grannas A. Olssons Hemslöjd
Mid-June to mid-Aug Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat & Sun 9am-4pm; rest of year Mon-Fri 9am-4pm, Sat 10am-1pm • Free •
W
grannas.com
• You can get to Nusnäs from Mora on bus #108 (Mon-Fri 3 daily; 20min)
Whilst in Mora you might want to consider a visit to
Nusnäs
, just east of town on the
lakeside, where you'll find
Grannas A. Olssons Hemslöjd
, the
workshop
of the Olsson
THE DALA HORSE
No matter where you travel in Sweden, you'll come across small wooden figurines known as
Dala horses
(
dalahästar
). Their bright red colour, stumpy legs and garish floral decorations
are, for many foreigners, high kitsch and rather ugly; the Swedes, however, adore bright
colours (the redder the better) and love the little horses - it's virtually an unwritten rule that
every household in the country should have a couple on display. Two brothers from the town
of
Nusnäs
,
Nils
and
Jannes Olsson
, began carving the horses in the family baking shed in
1928, when they were just teenagers. Though they were simply interested in selling their work
to help their cash-strapped parents make ends meet, somehow the wooden horses started
catching on - Swedes are at a loss to explain why - and soon were appearing across the
country as a symbol of rural life.
