• What to know if you go

Chris Hunt/Staff (ENLARGE)

Though written references to toy wooden horses date to the 17th century in Sweden, the colorfully painted Dala horse didn't become popular until the early part of the 19th century. Today the horse can be found on a variety of souvenirs.

Betty Gordon/Staff (ENLARGE)

The Museum of Swedish Wooden Horses is in the backroom at Runstenen in Gamla Stan (Old Town) in Stockholm.

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Stockholm, Sweden — Tennis champion Björn Borg, IKEA, Volvo, Saab, music group Abba, director Ingmar Bergman, actress Ingrid Bergman. Most Americans are familiar with these famous Swedes or the goods the companies export.

Perhaps just as famous – and certainly a more totable souvenir — is the Dala horse. This proud wooden animal, originally with an orange-red coat overpainted with multicolored designs, has become one of Sweden's most recognizable symbols.

It's been given as a gift to entertainers and politicians and had its Hollywood moment at the 1939 World's Fair in New York, where an orange 9 1/4-foot, 1-ton beauty stood outside the Swedish pavilion.

Now the Dala horse has its own museum. In a single room behind an upscale crystal and crafts boutique in Gamla Stan (Old Town) sits the Museum of Swedish Wooden Horses, one man's tribute to the humble equine figure that probably started out as a child's toy.

Shelf after shelf of four-legged armies, lined up by size and color, await shoppers' reviews. The orange-red Dala has been joined by green, blue, black, white, natural, purple, brown, turquoise, yellow and pink horses. A version that might appeal to Americans is done up in red, white and blue.

Many of the horses for sale come from the factory of Grannas A. Olsson, where they're produced in 20 sizes, ranging from less than a half-inch to 2 1/2 feet tall. (The size is measured from the tip of the ear to the bottom of the hoof.) And with other factories, it's estimated that more than 250,000 horses are turned out annually.

But it's on the opposite wall where Bill Odell's collection stars. He's lovingly collected the various styles and sizes for decades. In one display case, a horse so tiny that you need a magnifying glass to get a good look rests in a carved bear's open jaws. An equally tiny one sits in the eye of a large needle. He's also put up pictures and text that trace the horse's history.

No one knows exactly when or where the first horse was made, but it's thought to have originated in the 17th century in Dalarna, in the Svealand region northwest of Stockholm. Horses were necessary workmates for centuries and important figures in Norse mythology, so it's not a great leap to figure out why their likeness would be fashioned into a keepsake.

On long winter nights, lumbermen would use ax, saw and knife to liberate the form from knot-free scraps of pine, spruce, fir or birch. Falun, the center of Dalarna, was known for its copper mine, a ready source for the red paint that adorned the early horses and countless houses, too. Brushes were made from fur from squirrels' tails or cows' ears (phased out at Olsson's in the 1940s). Other pigments came from natural sources and were mixed with linseed oil. The artists paint the mane and body decoration "in the kurbits style," which was inspired by curling pumpkin vines and other vegetable and floral shapes.

Horses aren't signed with the artist's initials, but the painter generally has a special flourish, such as the stroke with which the tail is applied or a pattern of dots, by which he or she can identify their animals.

Like all industries, businesses have been handed down over the years. According to Odell's museum, the Hvit family of Vattnäs made horses from the 1880s to 1972; the Nisser family began around 1860, though they closed in the 1960s. And the Olssons of Nusnäs have been at it since 1922.

Since the late 1920s, a motorized band saw has been used at the Olsson workshop in mass production to cut the rough form; the carver refines it from there. The larger horses made from pine are fashioned in sections and glued together. Nowadays, putty is applied where cracks appear or where knots are visible.

The horses get dipped twice before the decoration is added. The second time, they dry on a tail-down incline to keep the paint drops from pooling under the stomach. The final dip is in a clear lacquer for a shiny coat, though some of the pastels skip this step to leave a matte finish.

In addition to the horses, Olsson's also makes a Dalamoose, clogs, clocks and other souvenirs.

If you can't make it to the museum and shop or a trip to Dalarna to see the Olssons at work, don't worry. Many stores around Stockholm stock the horses. And if you still haven't purchased one by your departure, there's always the airport or online.

IF YOU GO

• Museum of Swedish Wooden Horses, at Runstenen Crystal and Craft, Stortorget 14, Stockholm. Phone: 011-46-206-089. Free admission.

• Grannas A. Olsson, www.grannas.com.