is a town and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Røros.
Røros was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It was split into four municipalities on 1 January 1926 (Røros town, Røros landsogn, Brekken, and Glåmos), but these four were merged together again on 1 January 1964.
The town is named after the old Røros farm ("Røraas" around 1530), since the town was built on its ground. The first element is the river name Røa and the last element is os meaning "mouth of a river" (the small river Røa runs into the great river Glåma here). The meaning of the river name Røa is unknown.
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were adopted on 29 October 1992. The arms show a old copper symbol above two crossed mining tools in yellow on a red background.
Known for its copper mines, Røros is one of Norway's two nationally significant mining towns with activity starting in the 17th century (the other one being the "silver-town" Kongsberg, see Kongsberg Silver Mines).
Røros was burned to the ground in 1678 and 1679 by the Swedish Army during the Scanian War.
In 1718, during the Great Northern War, the town was once again taken by the Swedish Army, led by General De la Barre, who made up the southern arm of the main Swedish Army under Carl Gustaf Armfeldt. De la Barre took the city and all their mined copper at gunpoint.
When King Carl XII was killed near Fredriksten on 30 November 1718, De la Barre retreated north to join the bulk of the army. However, this ended in tragedy, when over 3,000 rather unprepared soldiers perished in the harsh weather conditions in the mountains northwest of Røros.
Røros and its people were made famous to Norwegians at the turn of the 20th century by semi-fictional author Johan Falkberget, who told the story of the mining community from the perspective of the hard-tested miners at the bottom of the social ladder.
With its authentic wooden buildings, Røros was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1980.
Røros is located on a gently sloping plateau about 630 meters above sea level that is forested with mostly birch and some pine, but the tree line is never far away. The largest lake within the municipality is Aursund and the river Glomma has its origin here.
The most northerly part of Femund, the third largest lake in Norway, is located in Røros. These lakes and other in Røros, such as Bolagen, are well suited for kayaking and fishing.
Røros has a somewhat continental climate. The mean annual precipitation in Røros is 500 mm, with February–May as the driest period. January average is −11.2°C, however, Røros has recorded the coldest temperatures south of Finnmark with −50.4°C in early January 1914. As winters are cold and stable, the skiing conditions are usually excellent, with the period from February to April as the optimum, as the sun is higher and the days longer than earlier in winter. The July 24-hr average is 11.4°C; summer days are often pleasantly warm, but the nights can get chilly. A new heat record was recorded July 2008 with 30.7°C.
During winter, a traditional market called "Rørosmartnan" is organized and that draws an average of 60,000–70,000 tourists each year. The market begins on the last Tuesday in February and lasts five days. There is also an outdoor musical theatre performance played in Røros to commemorate the tragedy when the Swedish soldiers froze to death. This show has been played since 1994.
The town is served by the railway line Rørosbanen and Røros Airport has a scheduled service to Oslo. The RV30 road connects south to Tynset and northwest down the Gaula valley towards Trondheim. There is also the RV705 road going north to Selbu and Stjørdal, and the road RV31 going east to Sweden.
