Røros
With its authentic wooden buildings, this town at the barren mountains is an gem. This 240 degrees pamoramic view is made of seven images.
Known for its copper mines, it is one of Norway's two nationally significant mining towns with activity starting in the 17th century (the other one being the "silver-town" Kongsberg, see Kongsberg Silver Mines).
Røros was burned to the ground in 1678 and 1679 by the Swedish Army prior to the Great Northern War.
In 1718, during the Great Northern War, the town was once again visited by the Swedish Army, led by General De la Barré who then secured the copper to fuel the Swedish war effort. When King Carl XII was killed near Fredriksten November 30, 1718, De la Barré ordered his army back to Sweden. However, this ended in tragedy, when over 3,000 rather unprepared soldiers perished in the harsh weather conditions in the mountains northwest of Røros.
Røros and its people were made famous to Norwegians at the turn of the 20th century by author Johan Falkberget, who told the story of the mining community from the perspective of the hard-tested miners at the bottom of the social ladder.
With its authentic wooden buildings, Røros is on the UNESCO World heritage list.
Røros is located on a gently sloping plateau about 650 m above sea level; forrested with mostly birch and some pine, but the treeline is never far away. The largest lake within the municipality is Aursund; the river Glomma has its origin here.
I have visited Røros a number of times and it is one of those places where you feel like you are actually travelling back in time among its wooden town buildings along the narrow Kirkegatan or the domestic hoises near the mine. The buildings near the mine are among the oldest and very small. I guess this is to keep some heat in the building during the cold winters. One of the landmarks is the church which towers over the low buildings.
Another landmark are the mine buildings that are now a museum. All these buldings looks very much like when the mine was still active and beside the pituresque town halls the bridges, hoppers and the buildings at the mining area shows some clever engineering. The proof is this that these wooden bridges are still solid and safe after centuries. It is easy to understand the back breaking work from the miners here, but then again I guess it is a little comfort for them to see that the mine is still there and the town is still alive.
I guess Røros have inspired many artists with its old houses which many are painted in various colors. At least it has inspired me and there is this story about the first painting I did of the street nestling downgrade past the old pharmacy and crossing the creek on a wooden bridge. I had started to paint it after a photograph of mine from my first trip and at the end I had this round hole in the middle of the apinting. I could not figure out what type of a wall the sheds had, so I filled my car at the gas station and drove those 320 kilometres there and took a few photos and drove back and left the film (no digital cameras in those days) to be processed. Once I got those photos I could finish the painting....
The town is not that big and you can get there conviently either by the high way from Elverum or if you are coming from west the road from Stören is quite scenic on its own right and offers alot to see. NSB is offering regional train services from Hamar and from Trondheim..
It is quite nice to stay over the night in town. It has several hotels and pretty nice camping site too. One time I stayed the night in the family caravan and the location of the camping site is close to the old town. While being there it is nice to walk around the narrow streets and see the daily life. There are also a number of restaurants if the pretty steep streets are taking its toll.
One big event is the Røros Market in the late winter and many people get there from near and far by horse to sell off their products or purchase something or just mingle around. I wish one day i will be have a chance to see this. I know many pople have and for them this is now a yearly event they don't want to miss.
(Røros photo gallery)
(Trysil) (Trondheim) (Brekken)
