WELCOME TO NORWAY AND LILLEHAMMER

Norway, situated on the top of Europe, is in the north, west and south surrounded by the sea and in the east bounded by Sweden, Finland and Russia.

Visitors to Norway are often impressed by the vastness of the country with its uncluttered roads, uncrowded beaches, placid lakes, peaceful pine forests and rugged mountain sides.  Yet the pleasures of civilization are never far away.

4.5 million people live in Norway, of which some 70 % are in towns and urban districts.  Norway is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system.  Executive power is vested in the King, but exercised through the Council of State (Cabinet), which is dependent on the confidence of a Majority in the National Assembly (Storting).

Only 3 % of the land is arable, so Norwegians have, from time immemorial, relied on the sea for part of the food supply.  Norway is rich in natural resources. Some 20 % of the country is covered by productive forests.  Mountains cover 62 % with mineral deposits that have provided the basis for sizeable mining operations, as well as significant metallurgical industry.  In the last two decades offshore oil and gas production have become a major part of Norwegian industry.

Lillehammer is situated 200 km north of Oslo, the capital of Norway.  Lillehammer has approximately 25.000 inhabitants and this is a modern city at the same time receiving awards for its architecture and protected buildings in the centre of the city.  Both nationally and internationally, Lillehammer is known as the city which hosted the Olympic Winter Games in 1994.