Day 38 - Exploring Røros, Norway
July 29, 2023: Today we took a trip to Røros Copper Mines to take a tour. Røros was once a small village of nomadic Sami herders before copper was discovered here by a German engineer in 1646. The King of Denmark (Norway was part of Denmark at the time) had asked his subjects to look for minerals as they had become an important source of income for his kingdom. After the discovery of the copper ore, the King granted a reward to the founder along with rights to a large circumference around the discovery area and included the 50 people who lived there. They were required to change from herding to mining. The new Røros Copper Works Company was formed with German mining technology as a starting point, employed German, Danish, Swedish immigrants, and Norwegian nationals. The town grew from 50 to over 2,000 people. The Røros Copper Works Company was in business for 333 years until the price of copper declined sharply. In 1977, they went bankrupt.
After our tour of the mines we went to the town of Røros and toured the church there. Røros Church, also called "The pride of the mining town" - was built with money from the Røros Copper Works. The building was finished in 1784 and is one of the largest churches in Norway. The church's connection to the Copper Works can clearly seen on the facade, where their emblem is placed above the dials on the tower walls and inside on the royal lodge above the main entrance. I had the visited the church on a previous trip in 1999, but since then there has been restoration work between 2008-2010 and it looks finer now than the last time I visited.
Later in the evening we went to a special dinner at an exclusive restaurant in Røros called Koya (Koia in Norwegian). The owners are a South Sámi family who work as reindeer herders in the Røros area. Marit is related to them. Before serving the meal of reindeer and two different kind of potatoes, they talked about reindeer herding, what it's like to do reindeer herding today and what it was like before, the traditions, seasons and culture. She spoke in Norwegian, but afterward the owner came by our table and gave us some insight in English. The meal was outstanding and the atmosphere was very cool. All in all, a five star experience! Another great day in Norway 🇳🇴♥️