FACTS
Nora
By the Nora lake, nestled in among mountains and vast forests, lies the small town of Nora. This is a trading town with roots in medieval times and iron industry. Nora is a central trading place in Noraskogs Bergslag, and has been so for many hundreds of years. The town received its town charter from Queen Kristina in 1643. Around the town, in the Nora forest’s mountain district, there were many mines and hundreds of smaller smelting houses. The miners in the region were generally also farmers. They often worked together in “hytt-lag” (teams), where work-based fellowship revolved around iron smelting. The iron was transported, often via lakes and waterways, to Arboga for onward shipping to an international iron market where Swedish iron had a good reputation.
From the middle ages until 1846 handicraft occupations and trade in Sweden were severely regulated. Trading was only permitted to be carried out in the towns and cities. The rural population in Nora mining district, with more than 200 smelting-houses, mines and forges, regularly travelled into Nora to trade, purchase goods, sell and do business. Nora’s trade and industry were, during the 19th and 20th centuries, characterised by a wide range of services as well as small-scale industry within many trades. This meant that the great modernistic transformation that was occurring in other places never reached Nora. Fortunately, this resulted in a preservation of the original town grid from the 17th century with wooden houses built in the 1700s and 1800s. Two storey town houses with light pastel coloured facades draw you in via gateways and yard interiors with trees, flowers, bushes and traditional red rural Swedish buildings.
The country’s first standard gauge railway was opened here in 1856. In Nora you can still today enjoy a beautiful railroad environment with an original station building, railway yard, engine sheds, museum and veteran train journeys for tourists in the summer. Housed in old railroad carriages you will find a youth hostel and a summer cafe.