Sala is a locality and the seat of Sala Municipality in Västmanland County

Västmanland County

Västmanland County is a county or län in central Sweden. It borders to the counties of Södermanland, Örebro, Gävleborg, Dalarna and Uppsala...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 with 12,059 inhabitants in 2005.

History

The small town is best known for its historical silver mine

Sala Silvermine

Sala Silver Mine is a mine in Sala Municipality, in Västmanland County in Sweden. The mine was in continuous production from the 15th century until 1908. Additional mining occurred in 1950-1951 and also in 1945-1962 in Bronäs Mine, located nearby. The Sala ore is mainly known for its high silver...

, which dates back to at least Medieval times, and was in operation until 1908. In 1624, the city Sala was moved to its current location close to the mine, receiving its royal charter

Royal Charter

A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...

 from King Gustavus Adolphus.

The silver was important for Sweden's economy and the base for coin

Coin

A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....

 production. A total of 400 metric tons of silver was extracted, and 40,000 tons of lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

; with at most 3-5 tons silver during a year.

The mine eventually reached a depth of 300 meters, and a total heading

Heading

Heading can refer to:*Heading , a process which incorporates the extruding and upsetting processes*Headline, text at the top of a newspaper article*The direction a person or vehicle is facing, usually similar to its course...

 length of 20 kilometers. It is today a popular attraction.

The Muslim Swedish impressionist painter Ivan Aguéli

Ivan Aguéli

Ivan Aguéli also named Sheikh 'Abd al-Hādī 'Aqīlī upon his acceptance of Islam, was a Swedish wandering Sufi, painter and author. As a devotee of Ibn Arabi, his metaphysics applied to the study of Islamic esoterism and its similarities with other esoteric traditions of the world...

 was born in Sala in 1869. There is a small museum and a park dedicated to his memory in the centre of the town. Sala is also domicile of the former Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Deputy Prime Minister Lena Hjelm-Wallen

Lena Hjelm-Wallén

Lena Birgitta Hjelm-Wallén is a Swedish Social Democratic politician. 1968 became Hjelm-Wallén a member of the Swedish Parliament and she held several cabinet positions. Starting in 1974 as the youngest minister to that date...

. She held several ministerial posts in the social democratic government in the 1980s and 1990s and has despite her career in politics remained in Sala and is still active in the local life.