Gustavsfors lock, Dalsland Canal
Bengtsfors

Lock chambers: 1
Elevation: 2,8 m
Duration: 20 min

Opening hours

Gustavsfors lock is a single lock. Above the lock, the canal is crossed by a fixed bridge with an 11.75 m clearance and a 4.2 m passage width.  

If you peek over the long, narrow Lake Lelång, you’ll see Torrskog Church, beautifully situated on a promontory right on the water. And if you stop by the church, you can visit the tree-trunk-shaped gravestone that Selma Lagerlöf had erected in memory of her sister Anna who died, far too young, at Gustavsfors Manor.

Buy your lock tickets here

Some History

Gustavsfors Mill was founded in 1747 by Nils and Jöns Koch, brothers and wealthy townsmen from Uddevalla. The mill began its life as an ironworks, but in the early 19th century, the legendary Gustaf Ekman became interested in the company. Ekman, the man behind the development of the iron industry and thereby Sweden’s prosperity, introduced Lancashire hearth iron processing in Gustavsfors. By 1873, however, the mill was transformed into one of the country’s first paper pulp mills, and continued so until just after World War II, when the mill was finally closed down. 

Today, tourism is the main source of income for Gustavsfors. It is in the summer that this idyllic community springs to life. But now and then, other things happen here, too. Sometimes film-makers drop in. Parts of the Danish-Swedish film Midsommar, with Tova Novotny in one of the lead roles, was filmed in Gustavsfors. To take just one example.