RØROS

Directorate for Cultural Heritage

Dronningensg. 13

Postbox 8196 Dep. 0034 Oslo

Tel: 22 94 04 00 - Fax: 22 94 04 04

http://www.ra.no

NORWEGIAN WORLD HERITAGE SITES

1 Bryggen in Bergen (1979)2 Urnes stave church (1979)3 Røros Mining Town (1980) and Circumference 20104 The Rock Art at Alta (1985)5 The Vega Archipelago (2004)6 The Struve Geodetic Arc (2005)7 The West Norwegian

Fjords (2005)

sites but also the surrounding landscape in order to placecultural heritage in a broader functional, historic and environmental context. The purpose of the extension is toinclude cultural landscapes showing why the town was established and how it functioned under the particular geographic and climatic conditions prevailing in the region.

Røros Mining Town was inscribed on the World Heritage

List in 1980. An extension of the world heritage area, the

Circumference was added to the list in August 2010

De

sig

n:

Gri

msh

ei

Gra

fisk

e,

Lø

ren

sko

g •

Pri

nte

t in

: H

BO

As

12

/10

Kje

rkga

ta.

© T

rond

Tau

gbøl

Asg

eir

Sp

ange

Bre

kke

© R

iksa

ntik

vare

n

Sle

ggve

ien.

Lis

en R

oll ©

Rik

sant

ikva

ren

Mining Town and theCircumference

MILJØMERKET

241

Trykksak

600

Røros Mining Town and the Circumference

2

3

1

7

5

7

64

Sm

åset

ran.

Lis

en R

oll ©

Rik

sant

ikva

ren

Gru

vene

. ©

Rik

sant

ikva

ren

After 30 years on the World Heritage List, the Committeeapproved in 2010 an extension of the area with a bufferzone and changed its name to Røros Mining Town andthe Circumference.

The property compromises three areas, The town andCultural Landscapes, The Femundshytta smelter and theWinter Transport Route. We can not fully understand howthe mining town functioned without considering the area ofprivileges, the Circumference. The buffer zone thereby hasa value in addition to protecting the Property visually. It is akey instrument for understanding the Property, and placesin a wider historical and functional context.

The monuments within this area include traces of prospecting, mining operations and smelters, charcoal pits,power stations, cableways and floatway structures. Othertraces include old roads, transport routes, farms providingstables and accommodation for travellers, urban agri-culture with summer gazing farms and summer residencesfor the town citizens.

Ny Engelsk Paste-up Røros 20-12-10 23:12 Side 1

U n e s c o

Røros Mining Town and the Circumference In 1644 copper ore was found in the Røros mountains. Lessthan two years later, Røros Copper Works was establishedand the Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV gave privilegiesto the Røros Copper Works to utilize all natural resourceswithin a Circumference (radius) of four old Norwegian miles,today estimated to 45,2 kilometres centered form the firstworkable mine, “Old Storwartz”. The furnace building wasbuilt by a waterfall of the river Hitterelva, where the RørosMining Town was established.

Workers poured into Røros from near and far to work inthe copper foundry. The surrounding district was not able to provide the agricultural products the new community needed, so farming became a secondary occupation for alllevels of workers. Compact farms with people and live stocksurrounding a court yard, are aspects of the town plan welladopted to the harsh mountain terrain and the extreme climatic conditions.

The mining and the farming town in the high mountainshas retained much of its original character, with houses andfarms from the 18th and the 19th centuries. The street patternand farming properties in the centre of the town are the sameas were constructed in the 1600’s. In the street pattern andthe arrangement of the buildings much of the development ofRøros can still be observed, one of the unique aspects ofRøros as a cultural heritage site. Røros has not burnt since theSwedes set it on fire in 1678 and 1679. Both the communityas a whole as well as the details, build upon a blend of conti-nental ideas and Norwegian building traditions.

For more than 250 years Røros Copper Works was amongNorway’s most important mines. Between 1644 and 1977 over100.000 tons of copper and 525.000 tons of sulphur pyritewere produced here. The landscape surrounding Røros wascompletely changed by the mining activities. Not only do theenormous waste heaps provide evidence of the extensive acti-vities under the surface, but also the entire forest over a largearea around the town was removed over a period of 25 yearsto produce fuel for the ovens. In addition, Røros is one of theworld’s coldest towns, with a temperature record of -50,4 de-grees Celsius. Heating in the houses also taxed the local tim-ber resources. In addition to the removal of the forest, nume-rous dams, timber canals and roads were built near the town.There was also pasturing near the town for fodder for the livestock, which spent the winter in the centre of the town.

Røros Mining Town was inscribed on the World HeritageList in 1980. Since then conservation ideology has changed.Today we want to protect not only monuments and historic

Taub

ane.

© R

øros

mus

eum

Arv

e K

jers

heim

© R

iksa

ntik

vare

n

Sto

rwar

tz g

ruve

r. ©

Ole

Jør

gen

Kje

llmar

k

Bryggen in Bergen

Røros Mining Town and the Circumference Urnes Stave Church

And

reas

Dre

yer

© R

iksa

ntik

vare

n

Asg

eir

Sp

ange

Bre

kke

© R

iksa

ntik

vare

n

Arv

e K

jers

heim

© R

iksa

ntik

vare

n

The Rock Art at Alta

Arv

e K

jers

heim

© R

iksa

ntik

vare

n

The West Norwegian Fjords

© A

rne

Aas

heim

The Vega Archipelago

© T

rond

Tau

gbøl

© S

tate

ns k

artv

erk/

Bjø

rn G

eirr

Har

sson

The Struve Geodetic Arc

UNESCO is the abbreviation for the ”United Nations Educatio-nal, Scientific and Cultural Organization”. UNESCO’s goal is tocontribute to peace and safety through international cooperationwithin these areas. The organization was established in 1945,and Norway became a member in 1946.

❖ The UNESCO convention for the protection of the world’s cultural and natural heritage

The convention for the protection of the world’s cultural and naturalheritage was approved in 1972, after cultural heritage and natural areas were increasingly exposed to threats from war, natural disasters, pollution, tourism or, more simply, neglect.

The convention encourages all countries to promote the protection of cultural and natural heritage of both local and natio-nal significance. The most important goal of the convention is toidentify cultural and natural heritage of universal value. The needfor a coordinated effort, both human and economic, was demon-strated by the international rescue of cultural heritage monu-ments in Egypt and Nubia, when the Aswan dam was built in the1960’s. Sixty countries, including Norway, participated.

Cultural and natural heritage can include monuments, singlebuildings or groups of buildings, cultural landscapes or naturalareas. These can be created by nature, or by people in coopera-tion with nature. They can be buildings representing importanthistoric developments, or natural phenomena of exceptionalesthetic or scientific value.

Norway ratified the convention on May 12.1977. The WorldHeritage Committee has so far approved seven Norwegian nominations to the World Heritage List, – Bryggen in Bergen andUrnes stave church were inscribed as early as in 1979.

Norway in the World Heritage Committee

In 2003 Norway was elected a member of the World HeritageCommittee, the main task of which is to consider nominations ofsites and objects to the World Heritage List. A major challenge isto work for a more balanced list, both in geographic and thematicterms. After more than 50 years, the List still contains far too fewWorld Heritage sites from the developing countries. This is why itis important to work for more nominations from developing coun-tries or countries with little or no representation on the WorldHeritage List.

Norway will also give priority to work for more nominations ofnature protected areas to increase their representation on the List.

Beeing nominated as a World Heritage Site does not include anynew form of legal protection; rather it offers additional recognitionand status.

More information on the World Heritage at UNESCOs website:www.unesco.orgMore information on The Norwegian World Heritage Sites:www.riksantikvaren.no

Ny Engelsk Paste-up Røros 20-12-10 23:12 Side 2