Largest Dala horse sculpture

The largest sculpture of a Dala horse (aka Dalecarlian horse) stands 13 m (42 ft 7 in) tall and 12.8 m (42 ft) long and sits at the intersection of Highways 70 and 68 on the outskirts of Avesta in Dalarna County, Sweden. It was built by construction firm Skanska Teknikk and decorated by painting specialists Miljönären Måleri (both Sweden) and unveiled on 13 December 1989.

The supersized Dala horse is made of concrete and weighs approximately 68 tonnes (75 tons). After many years of neglect, it was restored in 2019, with cracks filled in and a fresh paint job, three decades after its installation; at this point, the sculpture was also taken under the stewardship of the local Avesta municipality, having previously been owned by a Danish real-estate company.

The origins of Dala horses – equine figurines carved from wood traditionally created as toys – are thought to date to the early 17th century; it’s believed their brightly painted livery (most famously a vermillion base with details such as the mane and harness picked out in white, green, yellow and blue patterns) emerged later in the 19th century reflecting a broader Scandinavian folk-art trend that took off known as kurbits or “rose-painting”.

Dala horses take their name from the province of Dalarna in central Sweden where carpentry and furniture-making were historically common industries, and so making small objects like this out of wood was a good way to use up offcuts and make some extra income. Initially, the figures were particularly associated with the villages of Bergkarlås, Risa, Vattnäs and Nusnäs in the municipality of Mora, though as their popularity rose so did the number of manufacturers farther afield, with different regions often adding their own twist in terms of the form, size and decoration of the horses.

Today, the Dala horse has become a symbol of Sweden as a whole and is often associated with good fortune, hope and courage, typically given as a gift or bought as souvenirs by tourists.