Utstein Abbey

Utstein Monastery is located in Norway in the municipality Rennesøy north of Stavanger in Rogaland. This former Augustine monastery was dedicated to St. Lawrence and was built on the island Klosterøy, the western part of the island Mosterøy. It belonged to the diocese of Stavanger. Today, it is the best preserved medieval monastery in Norway and has been awarded the Olavsrosa.

History.

At the beginning of the story of Utstein takes the battle Harald Hårfagres on Hafrsfjord a central position, because there Utstein was definitely one of the five royal courts Harald in southwest Norway. Utstein was well secured and not easy to take. But when Harald was victorious in the Battle of Hafrsfjord, the situation for the lords of Utstein had become untenable, and they had to surrender. The sources then also report that since Harald residiere on Utstein while they report on the battle in the past tense and there is no talk of Utstein.

The monastery was probably built 1263-1280 by Magnus Lagabøte. The first mention is handed down from the year 1286.

In the Augustinian monastery lived about 20 to 30 monks and twice as many lay people for the management. The monastery was rich income and could feed up to 250 people annually.

Utstein monastery was attached. It came in the thirties of the 14th century into a serious conflict between the Bishop of Stavanger Eirik Ogmundsson and the abbot Erik. He was inhuman hardness against the monks and embezzling monastic treasures for the benefit of his friends and relatives accused of what may have been well represented by the Bishop exaggerated. At the beginning of the 16th century, there was again a conflict between bishop and abbot, who now Henrik said. The troops of the bishop broke several times in the fortified monastery. The first time the Abbot was able to escape, but a short time later, the bishop came with an army and war machines. The men of the bishop rose with ladders over the wall and broke down the tower. The abbot described later that he had been beaten bloody in bed and brought handcuffed to Stavanger, where he was imprisoned for 100 days. A few years later the abbot was arrested again, this time by Vincens lungs of the Bergenhus.

With the Reformation also Utstein monastery was secularized. In the 17th century, the monastery church became a parish church. The features of this period created the painter Gottfried Hendtzschel and the carver Laurids Sknekker. The monastery was 130 years long Danish Crown Estate, finally uninhabited and fell into disrepair. 1706 was the property for nearly 200 years in the private property of the Garmann family. 1750 pulled a the Judicial and Vogt Christoffer Garmann. The buildings have been repaired and partly rebuilt and greatly became one of the most beautiful Baroque areas of the West Country. 1885 took over the foster son and relatives of Børre Garmann, Eilert Garmann Schanche the monastery. The choir of the church in 1899, state property and was restored along with the tower around 1900. The monastery buildings served as residences and were set in the 1950s and 1960s repair.

Today the monastery is owned by the monastery Utstein Foundation. It houses a museum and serves as a conference and concert center.

Medieval building parts

Monastery church, the pulpit

Cloister, left the church, the cloister approaches are visible adjacent to the East Wing

Cloister, refectory south wing with

The church was built on a rectangular plan with the internal dimensions of 7 x 37 meters. Between the nave and choir of the tower is placed a building structure that is unique in Norway. The plan of the tower is also narrower than that of the choir and nave. In the area of the tower are the foundations of an older church of about 13 x 7 meters outside dimension. This predecessor could have been related to the royal court. The east wing basement adjacent to the choir of the monastery church. On the ground floor of the Convention are a gear and the library. A staircase directly on the nave led to the dormitory, which was before the rebuild the first floor of the East Wing. The basement also houses the south wing of the large dining room, the refectory, with the adjoining monastery kitchen. All the buildings were mainly built of soapstone ( steatite ), which was mined on the neighboring islands.

Footnotes

Gerhard Fischer was responsible for the investigation and restoration of the mid-20th century.