West Norwegian Fjords

The West Norwegian Fjords property was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2005 and consists of two areas some 120 kilometres apart on the western Norwegian coast, north-east of Bergen: the Geirangerfjord with its surroundings to the north and the Nærøyfjord with its own to the south. Both belong to the fjord landscape that extends from Stavanger to Åndalsnes, some 500 kilometres further north-east.

They are regarded as the archetypal examples of fjord landscape and among the most spectacular on the planet. Their beauty comes from their scale: narrow, sheer walls of crystalline rock rising to 1,400 metres straight out of the Norwegian Sea and continuing a further 500 metres below the waterline. Numerous waterfalls tumble down those walls, and free-flowing rivers cross deciduous and coniferous forest to glacial lakes, glaciers and rugged mountains.

The geological value is as important as the scenic one. Recent glacial erosion stripped away the weathering products and left surfaces polished by ice and waves that offer continuous three-dimensional sections through the bedrock: at Geiranger the Precambrian gneisses of the Western Gneiss Region are exposed, a world reference example of deeply subducted continental crust and of well-preserved high-pressure rocks. The landscape also records the isostatic rebound of the crust after the melting of the Pleistocene ice sheet. Alongside the natural values there is a cultural dimension: the abandoned mountain farms, clinging to the slopes, bear witness to an economy of extreme transhumance now gone.