Tautra Abbey Ruins

Tautra, Norway

Tautra Abbey was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1207 by monks from Lyse Abbey near Bergen. The site was an attractive one, and the earlier foundation of Munkeby Abbey seems to have been transferred here shortly after the foundation of this house. The abbey grew wealthy and powerful, and its abbots often played a major part in Norwegian politics.

Tautra Abbey was dissolved during the Reformation in Scandinavia in 1537, its lands were passed to the Crown, but the sizeable ruins of the church are still to be seen.

The present Tautra Monastery is a newly founded Trappistine community, and it is the first permanent Cistercian settlement in Norway since the Reformation. It was founded in 1999, near the ruins of the medieval monastery, as a foundation of Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey, located in Mississippi in the United States. The foundation stone was laid by Queen Sonja of Norway on 23 May 2003. The new monastery was granted general autonomy on 26 May 2006.The Trappistine nuns who established the monastery hope to be a point of contact and exchange between the Norwegian tradition and Cistercian spirituality.

On 25 March 2012, the status of the monastery was raised to that of Major Priory in the Cistercian Order. The following day, an election was held in which the founding prioress, Mother Rosemary Duncar, O.C.S.O., a native of the United States, was succeedeed by Sister Gilkrist Lavigne, O.C.S.O., a Canadian-American, who is now a citizen of Norway.

A community of Cistercians monks is in the process of being established nearby, near the former Munkeby Abbey, the first foundation of the Order in what is now Norway. The monk in residence serves as chaplain to the nuns. The new monastery will the first new foundation by the motherhouse of the Order, the Abbey of Cîteaux, since the 13th century.

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Address

Fylkesveg 67, Tautra, Norway
See all sites in Tautra

Details

Founded: 1207
Category: Religious sites in Norway

Rating

4.4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Steliana Berova (17 months ago)
Nice place for day trip in Norway.
Vlad Cristescu (2 years ago)
Above all: peaceful. On ur way to this place u may notice the very uncommon level of silence while smelling what a country side used to smell like. If u choose to eat here, u will have a small menu to pick from - everything will probably taste better than u expect it to - and u will expect good things, because u r in a peaceful, silent piece of nature. It's better.
Pucci Pucci (3 years ago)
Very nice place to visit! But there is nothing else. There was cafe and souvenir store but they closed when we were there
Alexandra Angeletaki (3 years ago)
A medieval monastery at Tautra, magnificent landscape
Øyvind Nilsen (3 years ago)
Nice ruins, but it is a lot of aluminium scaffolding in front of them (and it has been this way for a long time)
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