Røros, Norway

Røros
Registered Sector: 
Røros
Location and site: 
Roros, which is also known as "Bergstaden Roros," is at 650 m. above sea level in the midst of an extensive mountainous terrain. Located 100 km. south of Trondheim, it was developed on both banks of the Hyttelva River, where copper was extracted.
Historical Function: 
Mining.
Administrative Status: 
Historical Reference: 
  • Roros was founded in 1644, when the development of its copperworks was initiated. At that time, Norway was under the de facto rule of Denmark.
  • After Roros was set on fire by Swedish troops in 1679, this small mining and agricultural town slowly revived and continued to develop until its mine and foundry ceased operation in 1977.
Urban Morphology: 
The rectangular grid of Roros is based on the Norwegian planning principles of its day. Three major streets running parallel to the river on one shore, and a fourth one, on the other shore, are crossed by secondary transversal streets. Numerous bridges straddle the river.

Around the 18th-century masonry church, the wooden dwellings with their slate or peat roofs were constructed according to the Norwegian tradition of the 18th and 19th centuries. Following the Danish model of the 16th and 17th centuries, these houses and their out-buildings form farmyards; their main buildings face the street and their out-buildings lean against the neighbouring out-buildings.

Registration Criteria: 
"Roros embodies a strong degree of rarity because of its location. It was built as an industrial community in the mountains [...] at a very northern latitude [...]." (III) "Roros is a characteristic example" of a particular "type of technological and industrial development, as well as being an outstanding survivor of a traditional kind of human settlement built in traditional methods of construction." (IV) " Also, it has become vulnerable under the impact of economic change since the recent cessation of copper mining [...]." (V)