Røros Mining Town and the Circumference
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How it came to be
The Røros area has long been used by the Southern Sami for reindeer herding. In 1644 the general manager of the Kongsberg mine gave permission to work a copper lode in the nearby mountains, and the Røros Copper Works began. In 1646 the Danish-Norwegian Crown granted the mining enterprise privileges over a circular area around the town, the Circumference, with rights to its forests and water. Local farmers were obliged to provide transport and make charcoal for the works.
Swedish troops burned the town in 1679, and it was completely rebuilt. In 1718, during the Great Northern War, a Swedish army under General De la Barre took the town again and seized its copper. On the retreat more than 3,000 soldiers died in the harsh conditions of the mountains. One- and two-storey wooden houses with blackened façades still give the town its character.
Dynamite was used from 1870, and the Røros railway line was completed in 1877. Mining went on for 333 years and ended in 1977. In the early 20th century the writer Johan Falkberget made the town known across Norway with novels told from the miners' point of view. Røros was inscribed in 1980, and the property now also includes the Femundshytta smelter and the Winter Transport Route.
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