The National Heritage Board has decided to protect Femundshytta - a unique cultural environment that gives us a rare insight into a mining community from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Femundshytta is the most complete and well-preserved of the peripheral smelters in Norway. The smelter was built here because of good access to timber and hydropower, and it was more profitable for the ore to be transported there from the mines at Røros. Black copper was the material that was transported back and further processed at the Røros smelter.
The area has been untouched for a long time, and conservation protects it from uncontrolled encroachment. At the same time, it paves the way for further research and provides access to grant funding and professional expertise for conservation and management. The preservation is the result of a thorough assessment, and it is a recognition of the site's national value.
- Going through the needle's eye for preservation is demanding. The fact that Femundshytta is now protected is proof of the unique value and degree of preservation of the site," says Assistant National Heritage Officer Audun Skeidsvoll.
The role of the owners
The owners of Femundshytta have taken great responsibility for communicating the history of the area through their tourism and accommodation activities. The preservation is also a recognition of their efforts to preserve this important part of our common cultural heritage.
A small community with a big impact
Femundshytta represents a different side of mining history to the one we know from the large smelters at Røros and Folldal. A small, isolated community of women, men and children developed here - a community with both schooling and play, in addition to the demanding work associated with copper production. The preservation marks an important milestone in the work to preserve the traces of Norway's industrial past.
- "The preservation of Femundshytta gives us the opportunity to preserve a comprehensive picture of a community that might otherwise have been lost to history. It is an important reminder of the diversity of Norway's industrial history, and in line with the National Heritage Board's proposed strategy for the preservation of industries and their cultural environment," says Skeidsvoll.
The purpose of conservation
The conservation aims to ensure the preservation of the physical remains of this industrial community: the mounds, the cultivation areas with stone fences, and the clear traces of the production line for copper extraction - from the dam and guard hut at Tvillingtjønnan, to Hyttbekken's hydroelectric power that drove the bellows and furnaces.
