
Hovedøya
Wooded fjord island holding the ruins of a twelfth-century Cistercian monastery burned in 1532.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Hovedøya in Oslo goes back to January fifteen thirty-two, when soldiers from Akershus Fortress rowed across the harbour to the island's Cistercian monastery and came for its abbot. It follows the Danish commander who gave the order, a deposed king's failed bid for the Norwegian throne, and the English monks who founded the house four centuries earlier. Best heard walking among the church walls and cloister ruins.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Akershus Fortress
Medieval royal castle and star-shaped fortress on a harbour headland, rebuilt in Renaissance style.
Tøyen
Leafy east-side district around a botanical garden, natural history museums and an old timber manor.
Middelalderparken
Lawns and water around medieval church and royal-estate ruins on the old fjord shoreline.
Old Aker Church
Medieval limestone basilica on a hilltop, rescued from demolition and crowned by a central tower.
Bygdøy
Leafy fjord peninsula of royal farmland, forest trails, beaches, villas and major museums.
Norway's Resistance Museum
WWII museum in a fortress building, tracing the occupation and Home Front resistance of 1940 to 1945.