159km (99 miles) SE of Trondheim; 399km (247 miles) N of Oslo

Exploring a mining town might sound like a put-off, but this relic of another day is the finest of its kind in Scandinavia. As you strolled through the National Gallery in Oslo, you may have been struck by the arresting paintings crafted by the Norwegian artist Harald Sohlberg. His paintings made Røros famous internationally, and a statue of him stands at Harald Sohlberg Plass.

Tucked away in the mountains of eastern Norway, the old mining town of Røros is now part of UNESCO's World Cultural and Natural Heritage List. It is the most famous and evocative of Norway's mining towns.

More than 3 centuries old, it is known for its collection of 80 well-preserved buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries. Many of Norway's old wooden towns have long burned to the ground, but the Old Town of Røros is still so authentic that film companies regularly use the town as an authentic backdrop. One such film was An-Magrit, starring Liv Ullmann, adapted from the work of Røros's best-known author, Johan Falkberget, who lived in the town until his death in 1967. Some of Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking classics were filmed in Røros as well, and it was used as a setting for Siberia in Solzhenitsyn's A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

Røros lies at the northern tier of the Osterdal, a valley to the east of Gudbrandsdalen. It is famous because of its rich copper mines, which were launched in 1644 and ran until going bankrupt in 1977.