What Happened to the Silver of Sala?

Sala is the name of a small town in central Sweden, near Västerås, which is a very real administrative center, whatever the fans of Game of Thrones might think. Sala’s popularity is connected with silver, and in particular with the silver mine, which was already being exploited diligently in the 15th century; since when, we don’t know exactly. What we know is that 1/3 of the wealth of the most famous Swedish king Gustav Vasa came from here. Currently, it is a very nice museum complex, which I have been meaning to visit for a long time, but I managed to get my hands on only recently.

The heart of the complex, of course, is the silver mine, which no longer has any silver. If it had, it probably wouldn’t be a museum. Its oldest part is inaccessible because the miners were greedy, but not very smart, or at least unfamiliar with the laws of physics, and it actually collapsed over their heads. When I commented that it was usually the heads of the poor who suffer while the rich only observe, I was told, “Oh, no, the miners were actually among the wealthy members of society, they were paid handsomely and that was a prestige.” I reserve the right to doubt.

As silver was so tempting, they brought in engineers from Germany to design a new mine for them, preferably one that would not collapse. In the diagram above, you can see the old buried part to the left and the new vertical shafts with transverse galleries on the right. In the white rectangle is the small section that is open to visitors today. Access is via a system of stairs that take the guest down to level -60 (meters), after which, alas, they have to climb back up. That’s why the hosts warn everyone at the entrance – if you can’t climb 60 meters of stairs, don’t go down at all.

Silver, as we agreed, is no longer available in the mine. In addition to His Majesty Mr. Vasa, a number of other royalties also filled their coffers. I was amazed that the silver from Sala was considered extra valuable, since it was a full 1% of the mined ore! Usually it happens to be much less. The accompanying metals such as lead and zinc did not go unnoticed either, since years came when ammunition was steadily sought after in wartime Europe. More shafts and more galleries were dug, even deeper. They did not reach the Balrog, but maybe they simply stopped on time, who knows.

At one point, towards the end of the wars, they decided to return to the already excavated halls and blow up the walls, in case they had missed some percentage of silver. The photo below is from the Great Hall, and in it you can see some of the holes for taking the ore out (the upper arrows). The white spots on the ceiling are from the explosions, and the arrow at the bottom right shows the collapse they caused. To give you an idea of just how big the Great Hall is, the stone the arrow is pointing to is the size of a 9-seater van. They never found any more silver.

Like the neighboring Falu Copper Mine, Sala is full of interesting stories. About the Lady of the Mine, who rules underground and that’s why you have to knock three times on the wall when entering, so that she knows you’re down there and protects you. About the spirits in the dark. And about the mine “elevators”, which are actually large wooden buckets lowered by ropes. In Falu, we were told that the miners rode up and down at the edge of the bucket, one foot inside, one outside. Here, they stood on the edge with special wooden stilts, cut in the shape of that same edge for stability.

The “elevators” are installed in the mining shafts, which in some cases are combined with pumps for extracting groundwater. Some of the shafts of the Sala Mine are made more ornate, like the one in the top photo, which is called the Queen’s Shaft. In this case, the queen is Christina Vasa (who else), heiress of the first King Gustav from the 17th century, one of the most erudite and beloved royals in the country’s history. Other shafts are much more modest and look like this, just some large shacks:

This shaft in particular is combined with a pump. The groundwater levels in Sala have naturally changed during different historical periods, but from the very beginning they had to be pumped out in order to reach the ore. Today they are also being pumped out so that we can visit this interesting site in a vain desire to catch a glimpse of silver. The pumps have been technologically renovated, but part of the old inventory has also been preserved inside, which is curious. Such as the wooden pipes that you will see on the right in the photo below.

The Sala Mine tourist complex also includes other sites, e.g. additional processing factories, sawmills and the like, as well as preserved houses of people associated with the mine. Some of the houses belonged to ordinary miners and we can recognize them by the small rooms, the simple plank bed and the fact that your laundry hangs above your head. In favor of the theory that the local miners actually did not live badly is the exquisitely decorated cabinet next to the bed, as well as the guitar on the rocking chair at the back.

It should be noted, however, that this room has little in common with its sister in the other house, which obviously belonged to even better-off people. It is clearly visible that the size is different, as are the windows, curtains, lamp, table and chairs. Even the fireplace, the essential heating device, is not quite identical. I was particularly amused to discover the predecessor of the microwave oven in the form of a fireplace niche with doors in which one could quickly warm up their food.