Orsa

Orsa lies near the mouth of the Ore River at Lake Orsasjön, north of Siljan. Its church began in the thirteenth century and was enlarged in the following two centuries. In 1531 a new bell replaced an older one surrendered as tax to King Gustav Vasa. Later in the seventeenth century a fortification was built on the Ore River, adding military obligations to the burdens of a rural parish whose farms lay among the forests and lakes of Dalarna.