Sunday, January 19, 2014

A painted horse

A Dalecarlian horse or Dala horse (Dalahäst) is traditionally a red painted, stylized wooden (Not a real painted one mind you!) horse which is produced mainly in Nusnäs, Mora in Dalarna. Halter and harnesses are usually painted with patterns in white and blue. Nowadays one can find horses that are painted in all sorts of colors as a primer. Not just red.

The painted horse represented Sweden at the World's Fair in New York in 1939, and since then has been a commonly used symbol for the country. A three meter high Dalahorse sent over to New York and close to 1000 kg small Dala horses were sold in the souvenir shop.

If you want to see he world's largest Dala horse, you have to travel to the Alvesta. At a rest area next to Highway 68/70 you will find it. It is 13 meters high and was inaugurated in 1989
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A Dala horse is an neat souvenir to take home from a trip to Sweden.

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