THE KURSGÅRDEN LINDSBERG FOUNDATION
THE HOUSE
Kursgården Lindsberg was founded in 1979 by Miljöförbundet (today Friends of the Earth). Three years later, Kursgården broke free and became a non-profit foundation, which still exists today. From the statutes:
The purpose of the foundation is to manage and develop the Kursgård (retreat and conference center) in a non-profit spirit and there operate and stimulate a broad, practical and theoretical course activity in harmony with the concepts of solidarity, self-confidence and resource conservation/sustainability, and make Kursgården Lindsberg available for other activities in this spirit.
The foundation consists of those living in the house, also called the collective, as well as representatives from Friends of the Earth. The collective and a number of former members also form the group that on a voluntary basis, runs and manages the house in the same spirit as at the start-up now over four decades ago.
Kursgården is housed in a large stone house from 1905, which was originally built as a poorhouse by Stora Kopparberg Parish. When the house was built the ambition was that it should also function as an epidemic hospital, hence the size of this huge building. The outer walls are seventy centimeters thick and the ceiling height almost three and a half meters. From the beginning, this was an extension of the former poorhouse that was housed in a mine owner’s residence. The extension became housing for about a hundred people, while the miner's residence housed a kitchen and dining room. With the 1918 poor care law, the poorhouses were phased out, Lindsberg was from then on called a support-home and at the end of the 20s the old miner's residence was demolished, the stone house was expanded, it got its current design and became a retirement home. This home for the elderly moved in 1967 to newly built premises in Korsnäs, after which the house remained uninhabited until a group of collectivists in 1974 bought it from Falu municipality.
