The Norwegian Road Administration has developed 18 national tourist routes in Norway. How have the numerous road developments, train lines and itineraries shaped the Norwegian landscape? These are questions that are answered with words and pictures in the book “Views: Norway Seen From The Road 1733-2020” published by foragetpress.no
High mountains, narrow fjords, deep valleys. Norway’s views are national pride – and an international brand. It is, however, easy to forget that a view is not available to us without the road that brings us there.
Ever since the 18th century, the view of the Norwegian landscape has been inextricably linked to the various stages in the development of the Norwegian road network. The latest contribution to this development is National Tourist Routes constructed by the Norwegian Road Administration. Picnic areas and viewpoints throughout Norway have been built to strengthen the travelers’ experience of nature and cultural landscapes.
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The project has also become an important arena for Norwegian contemporary architecture. National Tourist Routes is part of a long cultural-historical tradition for staging the Norwegian landscape. For 300 years, painters, illustrators and photographers have documented dramatic stretches of road and magnificent nature.
Related: The Beautiful Tourist Roads in Norway
The book «Views: Norway seen from the road 1733–2020» gathers some of the most important milestones among these picturesque stories. The result is a book that allows us to see both the road, the landscape and the country in a new way.
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A group of art historians, architects and researchers have contributed to the book becoming an exhibition, a magnificent book and a research project. “What we perceive as beautiful and what we perceive as landscape, are shaped by culture, ideology, politics, building customs and industrial practice,” says the book’s editor Janike Kampevold Larsen.
Original title: “Utsikter: Norge sett fra veien 1733-2020” issued in Norwegian only.
Views: Norway Seen From The Road 1733-2020, written by Tor Kjolberg
Feature image (on top): National tourist routes, Stegastein Aurlandsfjellet. Photo: Visit Norway.