Orsa

Orsa
Orsa Church
Orsa
Coordinates: 61°07′N 14°37′E / 61.117°N 14.617°ECoordinates: 61°07′N 14°37′E / 61.117°N 14.617°E
Country	Sweden
Province	Dalarna
County	Dalarna County
Municipality	Orsa Municipality
Area[1]
• Total	12.59 km^2 (4.86 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2010)[1]
• Total	5,308
• Density	422/km^2 (1,090/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Orsa is a locality and the seat of Orsa Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden, with 5,308 inhabitants (2010).^[1] It is located in the northern part of lake Siljan, about 15 kilometres (9 miles) north of the town Mora. Inlandsbanan and European route E45 run through the town and the railroad Bollnäs-Orsa connects.

Nature

The southern parts of Orsa are characterized by the Siljan Ring, the ring of lakes and rivers in northern Dalarna formed by the big meteorite strike 365 million years ago. In central Orsa, at the ouflow of river Oreälven a sand bank has been built up, in these days enjoyed by thousands of visitors and the inhabitants of Orsa. The big forests start just north of the town of Orsa, with the sparsely populated Orsa finnmark, to which many Finns emigrated during the 17th century.

Worth seeing

• Orsa Camping, founded 1932, with its wonderful sand beach that are located at the Orsa Lake.
• Orsa spelmän, (Orsa folk lore musicians) which Benny Andersson from Abba used to play with.
• Finding your roots, many people migrated to the United States from Orsa, most commonly to Minnesota.
• Skattungbyn a small village with an undescribeable view over the river Oreälven.
• Orsayran (The Orsa Dizzying) a summer festival, with a lot of music, each Wednesday in July.
• Orsa slipstensmuseum a museum of the making of the famous grindstones of Orsa, located in Mässbacken.
• Helvetesfallet and Storstupet nice waterfalls in river Ämån 20 km (12 miles) north of Orsa
• Orsa Grönklitt. A wilderness center with wilderness activities, bear- and animal park during the summer and a wonderful ski resort during the winter.

Orsamål dialect

About 500 people speak the Orsamål dialect, an Old Scandinavian language, which is a variant of Dalecarlian, also called Old Swedish in Minnesota, USA.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Orsa is twinned with:

• Aalborg, Denmark^[2]

References

1. "Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km² 2005 och 2010" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. 14 December 2011. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
2. "Aalborg Twin Towns". Europeprize.net. Retrieved 19 August 2013.