Tuesday 10 July 2012

Z for Zinkgruvan (ABC Wednesday)

I was thinking of skipping ABC Wednesday this week, thinking that there can’t be any Swedish localities beginning with the letter Z. Then I checked my atlas, and found I was wrong. There is one: Zinkgruvan. A village of about 390 inhabitants (2010) founded around a zinc mine in the 1860s. (The name literally means “the zinc mine”.)

Map picture

I can’t recall that I’ve ever been to Zinkgruvan myself, although I’ve been to other places in that area. So I’m borrowing photos from various official websites here; and learning as I write…

 File:Zinkgruvan zink mine Sweden 001.JPG

Photo from Wikipedia.

The headframe of the mine, containing the elevators that move miners and ore in the mine shaft, is a major landmark in the village and is well over 70m high. The mine has been producing zinc, lead and silver on a continuous basis since 1857. There is also a museum that documents the history of the mining industry.

Photo from the mining museum’s website.

Besides being close to Lake Vättern (the second largest lake in Sweden), there are also several minor lakes in the area. Elks (moose) live in the woods nearby. Lakes, woods and elks tend to attract especially a lot of German tourists to Sweden in the summer.

Zinkgruvan also has several ski facilities, including an illuminated cross country ski track. Snow cannons are used to ensure that the ski-track is provided with snow during the entire winter.

From the local sports association’s website.

ABC Wednesday - Z

9 comments:

  1. That's wonderful that you could complete the alphabet with Swedish places.
    Z isn't a very popular letter in your language. You found terrific photos too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well done! I wonder if there are any cities, towns, or villages starting with Z in British Columbia...I should check that out. It's amazing what one learns when one has to do a bit of research!

    Leslie
    abcw team

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just popped back to tell you I checked and there IS a village on the northwest side of Vancouver Island called "Zeballos." hah!

    Leslie
    abcw team

    ReplyDelete
  4. with all your citys with y's and z's i just checked to see if there is a city in USA that starts with a z and there are about 50. i think my favorite is Zip City. how about Zoar? or Zumbro... i had no idea.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey, a town named after zinc - great find.
    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

    ReplyDelete
  6. Such a beautiful place.

    Zucchini
    Rose, ABC Wednesday Team

    ReplyDelete

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