Høvringen is a village in

Sel Municipality Sel is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Otta. The municipality also includes several notable villages including ...

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 ( ...

county,

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 ...

. The village is located in the northern part of the municipality, high up in the mountains along the

Gudbrandsdalen Gudbrandsdalen (; ) is a valley and Districts of Norway, traditional district in the Norway, Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer (town), Lillehammer and the lake ...

valley. The village area sits at an elevation of about above sea level. The village area now serves as the main entrance into the mountainous

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 first national park that was established in Norway.

History

Originally, Høvringen was filled with small, summer mountain

pastures Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

() that were used by farmers from the villages down in the valley. The first tourists came to Høvringen as early as the 1880s. The national park at Rondane was established in 1962, which brought a lot more tourists to the area. As the area transitioned from a farming area into a modern tourist resort, the area's animal life has remained rich and high standards and good service are combined with the preservation of the culture and traditions of the old ''seter'' farms.

Tourism

The culture and traditions of the old mountain pasture community are still well preserved, and today Høvringen has lodging accommodations for about 1000 guests including everything from simple self-catering cabins and a mountain school camp to several mountain lodges and hotels. In addition, there are over 200 privately owned

cottages A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...

that have been built in the area. Høvringen and its surrounding area has about of prepared cross-country skiing tracks and of marked tracks within

. The marked summer hiking trails expands for more than both within and outside Rondane National Park.

Culture

Høvringen and

Rondane 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 ...

have left their mark in Norwegian cultural history. On his journey through the

Gudbrandsdal Gudbrandsdalen (; ) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending toward the Romsdalen vall ...

valley,

Peter Christen Asbjørnsen Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (15 January 18125 January 1885) was a Norwegian writer and scholar. He and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe were collectors of Norwegian folklore. They were so closely united in their lives' work that their folk tale collection ...

, well known for his compilations of old Norwegian legends and fairy-tales, stayed in Høvringen in 1842. His stay formed the basis for the story of a local legend,

Per Gynt Per Gynt (, ) is a Scandinavian folklore, Norwegian fairy-tale which originated in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The story of Per Gynt is set in the Districts of Norway, historic district of Gudbrandsdal in Norwa ...

, who came upon trolls and terrifying monsters in Rondane. Asbjørnsen's fairy-tale "Reindeer hunt" at Rondane 20 years later created the basis for

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

's drama ''

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five-Act (drama), act play in verse written in 1867 by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. It is one of Ibsen's best known and most widely performed plays. ''Peer Gynt'' chronicles the journey of its title character fr ...

''. In "The Bridal Wreath", the first part of

Sigrid Undset Sigrid Undset (; 20 May 1882 – 10 June 1949) was a Danish people, Danish-born Norwegian people, Norwegian novelist. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1928. Born in Den ...

's trilogy

Kristin Lavransdatter ''Kristin Lavransdatter'' is a trilogy of historical novels written by Sigrid Undset. The individual novels are ''Kransen'' (''The Wreath''), first published in 1920, ''Husfrue'' (''The Wife''), published in 1921, and ''Korset'' (''The Cross''), ...

, the young protagonist, Kristin, is allowed to accompany her father up into the mountains. Here, she describes Høvringen and Rondane with an atmosphere of great legend and superstition. Writer

Aasmund Olavsson Vinje Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (6 April 1818 – 30 July 1870) was a Norwegian poet and journalist who is remembered for poetry, travel writing, and his pioneering use of Landsmål (now known as Nynorsk). Background Vinje was born into a poor but w ...

gave Rondane a central position in his poetic travelogue "Ferdaminne". His poem ''Ved Rondane'' was later set to music by

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic music, Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwid ...

, who also wrote music for Ibsen's play. Painters

Erik Werenskiold Erik Theodor Werenskiold (11 February 1855 – 23 November 1938) was a Norwegian painter and illustrator. He is especially known for his drawings for the Asbjørnsen and Moe collection of '' Norske Folkeeventyr'', and his illustrations for ...

Hans Gude Hans Fredrik Gude (March 13, 1825August 17, 1903) was a Norwegian romanticist painter and is considered along with Johan Christian Dahl to be one of Norway's foremost landscape painters. He has been called a mainstay of Norwegian National Ro ...

and not least Harald Solberg have all found motives in Rondane for their works. Solberg's A winter's night in Rondane has been voted the national painting of Norway.

External links

;Official Tourist Information
Høvringen
;Well known lodges at Høvringen:
Den Norske Fjellskolen RondeheimØigardseter FjellstueSmuksjøseter FjellstueRondane Haukliseter FjellhotellPutten Seter

References

Sel, Norway Villages in Innlandet {{Innlandet-geo-stub