Falun [key], city, capital of Kopparberg co., S central Sweden; chartered 1624 and again in 1641. It is the headquarters of Sweden's oldest company, the Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags Aktiebolag, founded (1347) to operate the copper mines of Falun (no longer mined). The company, which helped considerably to finance Gustav II's campaigns during the Thirty Years War (1618–48), is still one of Sweden's largest, holding wide interests in iron, steel, chemicals, lumber, and paper, as well as in hydroelectric power. Of note in Falun is a 17th-century church, the Kristine Kyrka.
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