Dovrefjell is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

Central Norway Central Norway (, ) is an informal, unclearly defined region of Norway. In its most limited usage, the term "Central Norway" may refer only to Trøndelag county; however, it may also be understood to include all or parts of the county of Møre og ...

that forms a natural barrier between

Eastern Norway Eastern Norway (, ) is the geographical region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Oslo, Akershus, Vestfold, Østfold, Buskerud, Telemark, and Innlandet. Eastern Norway is by far the most populous region of Norw ...

and

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

. The mountain range is located in

Innlandet Innlandet is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (Jevnaker Municipality and Lunner Municipality were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken ( ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

, and

counties in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. As a result of its central location, its valleys and passes have been heavily trafficked during and probably preceding historical times. Several mountain inns were established in the Middle Ages to house pilgrims traveling through Dovrefjell to Trondheim, and there are even ruins of an old

leper Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria '' Mycobacterium leprae'' or '' Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve da ...

colony in the northern area of it. Dovrefjell

The main south-north highway (

European route E6 European route E6 (, , or simply E6) is the main north–south thoroughfare through Norway as well as the west coast of Sweden. It is long and runs from the southern tip of Sweden at Trelleborg, into Norway and through almost all of the countr ...

) and the

Dovrebanen The Dovre Line () is a Norwegian railway line with three slightly different lines which all lead to the historic city of Trondheim. Definition *Dovre Line is the main line between Eidsvoll Station and Trondheim Station, used by Jernbaneverke ...

railway line both run through a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

in the Dovrefjell range. The highway is a year-round highway but on rare occasions it is closed for short periods during heavy winter weather conditions. The mountain range runs through

Oppdal Municipality is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Dovre region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Oppdal (village), village of Oppdal. Other villages in the ...

county,

Folldal Municipality Folldal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Folldal. The municipality was established in 1914 when it was separ ...

Dovre Municipality Dovre is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dovre. Other villages in Dovre include Dombås and Hjerkinn. The ...

, and

Lesja Municipality Lesja is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Lesja (villag ...

county, and

Sunndal Municipality is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Nordmøre Districts of Norway, region located in the northeast part of Møre og Romsdal counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village o ...

county. The municipalities of Oppdal, Folldal, and Dovre, together, make up what is sometimes known as the Dovre Region. Muskus

As it is a natural habitat for many rare plants and animals, much of the Dovrefjell range has become a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in several stages starting in 1911, when some plants were put under protection. When the railroad was built from

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

in 1921, one of the marshes was preserved. In 1974, parts of the mountain range became Dovrefjell National Park and the park was extensively enlarged in 2002. Together with the neighboring

Rondane National Park Rondane National Park () is the oldest national park in Norway, established on 21 December 1962. The park is located in Innlandet county, in the municipalities of Dovre Municipality, Dovre, Folldal Municipality, Folldal, Sel Municipality, Sel, No ...

, the area has Norway (and Europe's) last stock of wild

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

Beringia Beringia is defined today as the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 70th parallel north, 72° north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south ...

n origin. Dovrefjell (west of E6 / the

Dovre Line The Dovre Line () is a Norwegian railway line with three slightly different lines which all lead to the historic city of Trondheim (city), Trondheim. Definition *Dovre Line is the main line between Eidsvoll Station and Trondheim Station, used b ...

) also has a stock of

musk ox Musk is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors. ' ...

en, imported from

East Greenland Tunu, in Danish Østgrønland ("East Greenland"), was one of the three counties (''amter'') of Greenland until 31 December 2008. The county seat was at the main settlement, Tasiilaq. The county's population in 2005 was around 3,800. The county ...

in 1932. The Dovrefjell area has now been almost entirely protected as two national parks: * Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park, founded 2002, which encompasses the previous and much smaller Dovrefjell National Park. * Dovre National Park, founded 2003, connecting the protected areas in the Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park with

. The highest mountain in the region is the tall

Snøhetta Snøhetta is the highest mountain in the Dovrefjell mountain range in Norway. At , it is the highest mountain in Norway outside the Jotunheimen range, making it the 24th highest peak in Norway, based on a topographic prominence cutoff. At , i ...

. The range provides cross-country skiing and hiking opportunities. The river Driva, running north through

, has its source in the Dovrefjell range.

Name

The first element refers to the geographic area, ''

Dovre Dovre is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Dovre (villag ...

''. The last element is ''fjell'' which means "

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or Moorland, moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of M ...

" or "mountain". The name Dovre () belongs to a group of Scandinavian toponyms that the Swedish linguist

Elof Hellquist Gustaf Elof Hellquist (1864–1933) was a Swedes, Swedish linguist. He was professor of Nordic languages at Lund University between 1914 and 1929 and authored the standard work ''Swedish Etymological Dictionary''. Biography Elof Hellquist was ...

has derived from a

Proto-Norse Proto-Norse (also called Ancient Nordic; Danish and ; ; ; ) was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic in the first centuries CE. It is the earliest stage of a c ...

, and linguists have further derived them from the old

Proto-Indo-European root The roots of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) are basic parts of words to carry a lexical meaning, so-called morphemes. PIE roots usually have verbal meaning like "to eat" or "to run". Roots never occurred alone in the langu ...

(cf. PIE , "deep"), a root that is also attested in German ("forested valley") and

Old Slavic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic subgroup of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-Europea ...

("hole"). There are several place names in Denmark, Norway and Sweden that are identified as related to ''Dovre'': ;Denmark * in the narrow valley ''Døvredal'', in Bodilsker parish on

Bornholm Bornholm () is a List of islands of Denmark, Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. I ...

. * a place with steep slopes in Lintrup parish in

Haderslev Haderslev (; ) is a Denmark, Danish town in the Region of Southern Denmark with a population of 22,405 (1 January 2025). * located among deeply cut banks of a small stream, in Skipdsted parish near

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

. *, an old farm name, and the bay , with hilly terrain, in Ydby parish, near

Thisted Thisted is a town in the municipality of Thisted in the North Denmark Region of Denmark. It has a population of 13,505 (1 January 2025) * a parish in Hjelmslev hundred in Århus amt. It has a hilly terrain with steep slopes. ;Norway * Dovre herred () was originally the name of an old farm and it later became the name for the entire hundred. * was the name of a lost farm in Biri hundred, but it survives in the name of a local meadow . *, where the name is derived from and ("meadow"). ;Sweden * ("lakes of Dovra"), which are three lakes (Northern/Upper, Middle, and Southern) in a

fissure valley A fissure is a long, narrow crack opening along the surface of Earth. The term is derived from the Latin word , which means 'cleft' or 'crack'. Fissures emerge in Earth's crust, on ice sheets and glaciers, and on volcanoes. Ground fissure A ...

Närke Närke () is a Swedish traditional province, or ''landskap'', situated in Svealand in south central Sweden. It is bordered by Västmanland to the north, Södermanland to the east, Östergötland to the southeast, Västergötland to the sou ...

. *, a farm located at the southernmost extension of the valley. *, a long and narrow inlet of the lake Glan in

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...

, and there is a strait named and a farm named . The name has also been given to giants in Scandinavian legends. The name has been given to the giant , at Dovrefjell, who was helped by

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair (; – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first Monarchy of Norway, King of Norway. Supposedly, two ...

and in return assisted him all his life. In

, the Dovra lakes were attributed to the giantess ''Dovra'' who wept for her husband. From the oldest times has Dovrefjell been the border region between the northern and southern parts of Norway, and the road over the mountain was well known. The expression "til Dovre faller" ('until the Dovre mountains fall') is widely used in Norwegian. It was used in the oath sworn during the

Norwegian Constituent Assembly The Norwegian Constituent Assembly ( or ) is the name given to the 1814 constitutional assembly that adopted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised the dissolution of the union with Denmark. The meetings took place at the Eidsvoll Manor in th ...

in 1814, when Norway formed an independent nation after being in union with Denmark. At this time it was assumed that Snøhetta in Dovrefjell was the highest mountain in Norway, since the higher peaks in

Jotunheimen Jotunheimen (; "the home of the Jötunn") is a mountainous area of roughly in southern Norway and is part of the long range known as the Scandinavian Mountains. The 29 highest mountains in Norway are all located in the Jotunheimen mountains, in ...

were fairly unresearched.

Geology

Dovrefjell is a residual massif, which is a mass of rock that has stayed in place as the surrounding relief has been eroded. The tops of

and Dovrefjell and other parts of southern Norway are the few remnants (see summit accordance) of a formerly flat surface that existed in Norway before uplift. This surface is now largely eroded and warped. That erosion formed a series of steps and from the highest of these steps Jotunheimen rises.

References

External links

Dovrefjell – the official travel guide to Norway
{{Authority control Mountain ranges of Norway Landforms of Trøndelag Landforms of Innlandet Landforms of Møre og Romsdal