Cultural History
When the ice retreated 10,000 years ago, the wild reindeer found new grazing grounds in the north. People followed and settled on Hardangervidda. The plateau is full of traces left by hunters, nomads, mountain farmers and soldiers, and tells a fascinating story of human life in the mountains and how Norway came to be inhabited.
A landscape shaped by people and nature
Hardangervidda is not merely a natural landscape, it is a cultural landscape with layer upon layer of human activity. From the first Stone Age hunters who followed the wild reindeer northward after the ice age, to the saboteurs who operated here during the Second World War, the plateau has always been an arena for human endurance and survival.
Stone Age hunters
The first people arrived on Hardangervidda shortly after the ice retreated. They were nomadic hunters who followed the wild reindeer's migration routes. Archaeologists have found hundreds of settlements, hunting pits and arrowheads across the plateau.
Hunting and summer farming
In the Middle Ages, the plateau was important for organised wild reindeer hunting and fishing. Farmers from the valleys ran summer farms on the plateau. Remains of old farm buildings and hunting installations can still be found in many places. Resources such as antlers, iron ore and falcons were extracted from the plateau, making Hardangervidda an important part of trade and the economy in Norway at the time.
Explorers and tourists
The Romantic ideal of nature made Hardangervidda a popular destination for explorers, painters and natural scientists. The realist Henrik Ibsen also visited the plateau and was inspired to write dramatic works. Interest in the plateau steadily grew, and the Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT) was founded in 1868 and began building cabins and clearing paths.
World War Two
Hardangervidda played a decisive role during the Second World War. Norwegian resistance fighters and British Allies used the plateau as a route and hiding place. The famous "Heavy Water Sabotage" in 1943, in which saboteurs worked to prevent the production of the by-product heavy water at Vemork, is one of the war's most celebrated acts of sabotage.
National park established
The establishment of national parks was enshrined in the Nature Conservation Act of 1970. Hardangervidda National Park was formally established in 1981 and is today Norway's largest national park. Hardangervidda is the southernmost outpost for a number of species of arctic flora and fauna. Its establishment secured protection of the unique natural and cultural landscape for future generations.
Contact us
Visitor Centre Hardangervidda national park
E: post@hardangervidda.com
T: +47 970 74 300
Møsvannveien 1149, 3660 Rjukan
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