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Røros Mining Town
Site number:
55
Type of site: Cultural
Date: 17th century
Date of Inscription: 1980
Location: Europe, Norway, Sør Trøndelag County, Municipality of Røros
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Description: Røros, set in the mountainous locale, has its history closely linked to the copper mines that were developed in the 17th century and exploited for 333 years until 1977. Swedish troops completely rebuilt the city after its destruction in 1679. The city now holds some 80 wooden houses positioned around courtyards, many of which maintain their dark pitch-log facades, presenting a medieval appearance to the town. --WHMNet paraphrase from the description at WHC Site, where additional information is available.
  Røros was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It was split in four municipalities January 1, 1926 (Røros town, Røros landsogn, Brekken and Glåmos), but these four was merged together again January 1, 1964. 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. --Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/55
Reference: 1. UNESCO World Heritage Center, Site Page.
 
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