Project

The present project started in 1993, inspired by an idea first presented in 1919. The foundation stone to the building was installed on the "Peace Plateau", Mt.Tron, in 1979.

Major events

1993: The Mt.Tron University of Peace Foundation was established as a legal body for the "Mt.Tron University of Peace" project. A first draft of plans for the project was drawn up in collaboration with architects Snøhetta and Gaia-Oslo, was delivered to the municipality of Alvdal and received a positive response. The University of Peace was the subject of the final diploma for two students of architecture at the Norwegian Institute of Technology. A folder with information on the project in both Norwegian and English was also published.

1994: The Norwegian national television channel (NRK) broadcast a 15 minute programme about the plans on the national network.

1995: A prospectus on the project was printed in connection with a formal request forwarded to the municipality of Alvdal. On October 12th the local authority passed a resolution to prepare a council plan for the Mt.Tron area to include the university plans of the Foundation.

1996: Civil architect Professor Knud Larsen of the Norwegian Institute of Technology produced a sketch project for the Foundation, and a detailed guide to the whole project was delivered to the executive committee of the Alvdal municipality.

1998: A quarterly newsletter in both Norwegian and English—The Mt.Tron Mail—began publication to update interested subscribers about the progress of the project.

1999: The Foundation’s first WEB-pages were published on the Internet and a new folder was printed and published. Two of the local political parties included work for the plans of the University of Peace in their election programme.

2001: A work model was made by Professor Knud Larsen.

2002: Professor Knud Larsen completed the "Mt.Tron University of Peace Pre-Project 20.02.2002" containing completely new drawings, the culmination of the preceding years' planning work.

2003: A new logo was designed. Professor Knud Larsen completed extensive improvements to the pre-project, in early Spring, now entitled "Mt.Tron University of Peace Pre-Project 03.03.2003". On the Internet entirely new WEB-pages were published, and a new general information folder on the project was printed and published. A large format booklet, "Mt.Tron University of Peace. A Humaniversity for Universal Harmony. Detailed Project Description", was printed and published in English by the Foundation. Responding to an invitation, two of the Foundation's board members participated in the international peace symposium "Pathways to Peace" held at the Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia.

2005: Full endorsement and moral support from "Heart to Heart Service", run by Teresa Hsu (born 1898!) and Sharana Rao in Singapore. Alvdal municipality finally started planning work for the new land use plan 10 years late, including the Foundation's plans for the Mt.Tron University of Peace.

2006: The University of Peace was delineated on the municipality's land use map.

2007: For the second time the development of the Mt.Tron University of Peace appeared in the municipal election party manifestos of both the Centre Party (Sp) and the Left Wing Party (V). Alvdal's new Mayor Olov Grøtting publicly declared her great wish as Mayor to realize the Mt.Tron University of Peace.

2009: The Municipal Plan of Alvdal 2008 - 2020, where a site for the University of Peace had been allocated in the Part of Land Use, was adopted by the local council on June 25th. The Foundation invited affected ground owners on Mt.Tron to a meeting to prepare for a regulation plan. An architect student of landscapes at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences took the Mt.Tron University of Peace for the subject of his Master’s degree project.

2010: The Mt.Tron University of Peace Estate Inc. was established to deal with all economic and material aspects (manifestations) of the project. Mt.Tron University of Peace Estate Inc. initiated work on the required regulation plan at the "Peace Plateau" on Mt.Tron and hired the architect of landscapes firm Feste North East Inc. at Tolga as consultant.

2011: The project was divided into four phases, and the Norwegian governmental aid company Innovation Norway offered in February a grant for the financing of Phase 1, including regulation plan and land acquisition. On July 1st the regulation plan "Detailed Regulation for Mt.Tron University of Peace" was delivered to the municipality of Alvdal for further processing. By letter of November 24th 2011 The Royal Department of Knowledge granted dispensation from the law for using the name "Mt.Tron University of Peace". On December 23rd the local company Vingelen Development Inc., according to order, delivered a Possibility Condition (analysis), which was attached to the Regulation Plan.

2012: "Detailed Regulation for Mt.Tron University of Peace" was finally sanctioned and unanimously passed by the Alvdal Local Council on April 26th.

2015: Architect Knud Larsen bought Tronsvangen Seter at Tronsvangen in Alvdal. The old mountain hotel was converted into a retreat and course centre, with activities by Mt.Tron University of Peace, as an important step on the road to realizing the plans higher up on the mountain.

2018: The local landowners on Mt.Tron finally organized themselves into joint mountain ownerships, and thus it has become clear at last to whom The Mt.Tron University of Peace Foundation will address the request for buying land. For all these years the ownership to the mountain remained unclear until now.

2020: The ownership of "The Mt.Tron Road" was finally decided by the local Land Consolidation Court, and thus all fundamental legal matters concerning Mt.Tron seem to have been solved. A 3-D model of the project was finalised and published on the website's home pages.