Picture of the Day, Hovedøya

Hovedøya, Oslo, Norway -- August, 2010

There are many islands of the coast of Oslo, and several of them are serviced by ferries that use the same tickets as the rest of Oslo's public transportation. During our first weeks in Oslo, we took advantage of the beautiful, sunny weather, and visited a couple of them. On Hovedøya, there are ruins from an old monastery. I didn't know anything about this history, so I looked it up on Wikipedia:

"The Cistercian monastery, Hovedøya Abbey, was built on the island, and opened on 18 May 1147. During the Medieval period, the monastery was a leading economical force in the Oslo region. It was however closed down before the Reformation after the abbot came into conflict with King Christian II. The military official at Akershus Fortress had the abbot imprisoned and the monastery looted and burned down in 1532. Parts of the ruins of the monastery remain on the island, but much of the stonework was used in the expansion of Akerhus Fortress in the 17th century."

Here is a full overhead view:

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Being geeky librarian students, we were very excited to find the library, which, if I remember correctly, is the very small, thin room at the upper right-hand side of the the large central room.