Falun, is a city in central Sweden, in the province of Dalarna. The town has 36,447 inhabitants. Together with the surrounding area, the Falun Municipality has 55,000 inhabitants, and is the administrative capital of the Dalarna County. Together with Borlänge Municipality, Falun forms a metropolitan area with close to 100,000 inhabitants. Falun is still today an important service and industrial city even though the mine (since 1992) is closed.
For education, the city holds part of the University College of Dalarna (Högskolan Dalarna). The city lost out to Calgary, Canada in 1981 for the 1988 Winter Olympics. Again, Falun applied for the 1992 Winter Olympics but lost out to Albertville, France in 1986. The city lost despite the best efforts of one of ABBA's singers who recorded a single in support of the bid. Iron and Copper byproducts from the mine are still used as a paint ingredient, in the production of the nationally well known and culturally important Falu Red paint, particularly used for wooden houses.
