Travel Guide Røros

The small town of Røros (population 5,623) is located at an altitude of 615 m, at the headwaters of the Glomma, the longest river in the country. It has a slightly continental climate. It is one of the coldest places in Norway, and it is definitely the coldest city in Trøndelag (record: -50.4 °C in early January 1914 and -42 °C in January 2010). Its cold winters are good for skiing; in summer, the days are pleasant but the nights remain very cool. Founded in 1644 for copper mining (which continued until 1977), Røros was in its heyday one of the most important industrial centers in Northern Europe. Today, a unique collection of old wooden houses and the large baroque church from 1784 have been preserved in the old town of Bergstaden, the mountain city, its former German-inspired name. Indeed, Norway, at the time reduced to a poor uncultivated province of the kingdom of Denmark, was obliged to bring in German engineers to supervise the work of the mine. Its old town is now a Unesco World Heritage Site (since 1980). The inhabitants like to go out, and Røros is more lively than most other towns in the long Østerdal valley. The town also has several interesting museums such as Olavsgruva (Olav's mine) and Smeltehytta (the smelter), many galleries of pictorial art, annual festivals such as Rørosmartnan (the Røros fair since 1854, formerly of agriculture) in February, and dog sled races.A big winter festival, Rorosmartnan, takes place in February. For more information: www.rorosmartnan.no