Høvringen is a village in Sel Municipality in

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

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

Gudbrandsdalen Gudbrandsdalen (; en, Gudbrand Valley) 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 towar ...

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 ( no, Rondane nasjonalpark) is the oldest national park in Norway, having been established on 21 December 1962. The park is located in Innlandet county, in the municipalities of Dovre, Folldal, Sel, Nord-Fron, Sør-Fron, Stor ...

, 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. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

( no, seter) 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 (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...

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 have left their mark in Norwegian cultural history. On his journey through the Gudbrandsdal 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 and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

's drama ''

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five- act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen published in 1876. Written in Norwegian, it is one of the most widely performed Norwegian plays. Ibsen believed ''Per Gynt'', the Norwegian fairy tale on wh ...

''. In "The Bridal Wreath", the first part of Sigrid Undset's trilogy

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

, 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 gave Rondane a central position in his poetic travelogue "Ferdaminne". His poem ''Ved Rondane'' was later set to music by Edvard Grieg, who also wrote music for Ibsen's play. Painters Erik Werenskiold, Hans Gude and not least

Harald Solberg ''Harald Solberg (born 20 July 1976) is a Norwegian politician for the Christian Democratic Party. He served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Vestfold during the terms 1997–2001 and 2001–2005. From 2001 to 2 ...

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 Villages in Innlandet {{Innlandet-geo-stub