A small, low, flat island in the Trondheimsfjord where the ruins of a medieval abbey and a light modern nunnery share green meadows and birdsong.
Tautra is a small, low, flat island in the Trondheimsfjord, part of Frosta in Trøndelag, central Norway — barely 3.5 km long and rising just 26 metres. In 1207 Cistercian monks from Lyse Abbey near Bergen founded a monastery here; it grew wealthy and powerful before the Reformation closed it in 1537, leaving pale stone ruins. Eight centuries later, in 2006–2007, a new community of nuns built a light modern monastery beside them. Today about fifty people live among green meadows, birdsong and the quiet of a working nunnery.
The island's story turns on faith. On 25 March 1207 a group of Cistercian monks — a strict reforming order that prized silence, prayer and hard work — arrived from Lyse Abbey near Bergen and opened a monastery on Tautra. Over the following centuries it became one of Norway's richest and most influential religious houses, owning farms and land far beyond the island. When the Reformation swept the country, King Christian III dissolved the monasteries; in 1537 Tautra's property passed to the crown and the monks were gone. Wind and weather did the rest, and only pale stone ruins remain, standing on the grass down by the water.
For almost five hundred years the abbey was only a memory. Then, in 1999, a small community of Cistercian nuns — Trappists, from Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey in Iowa, in the United States — came to settle beside the ruins. Norway's Queen Sonja laid the cornerstone in 2003, the airy modern church, designed by the architects Jensen & Skodvin, was consecrated in 2006, and Tautra Mariakloster was formally dedicated in 2007 — the first permanent Cistercian house in Norway since the Reformation. The sisters keep the old rhythm: seven times a day they gather to sing the Liturgy of the Hours, and a guesthouse lets visitors share the quiet.
The nuns support themselves by hand, making natural herbal soaps, balms and skin creams — St. Olav's Cream is the best known — sold from the monastery shop. Beyond the walls, the island belongs to the birds. The shallow waters and wetlands around Tautra form the Ramsar-listed "Tautra og Svaet" nature reserve, protected since 1984 and covering some 20.5 square kilometres, a haven for eider ducks and thousands of migrating seabirds. A 2.3-kilometre causeway built in 1979 ties the island to Frosta on the mainland; when it choked the flow of the fjord and harmed marine life, a bridge was later cut into it to let the tide — and the birds — pass through again.
The making of Tautra
Tautra Abbey ruins
The pale stone ruins of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1207 by monks from Lyse near Bergen — once one of Norway's wealthiest monasteries, dissolved at the Reformation.
Tautra Mariakloster
A living Cistercian (Trappist) nunnery whose light modern church, consecrated in 2006, rose beside the medieval ruins — the first permanent Cistercian house in Norway since the Reformation.
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The causeway (molo)
The 2.3 km causeway built in 1979 that ties the flat island to Frosta; a bridge was later cut into it to let the fjord's water — and its birdlife — flow through again.
Tautra og Svaet nature reserve
The shallow waters and wetlands around the island — a Ramsar-listed reserve and important bird area, a haven for eider and thousands of migrating seabirds.
Monastery soap & skin cream
The nuns earn their living making all-natural herbal soaps, balms and skin creams — St. Olav's Cream among them — sold from the monastery shop.
The sung hours
Seven times a day the sisters gather to sing the Liturgy of the Hours; the guesthouse invites visitors to share the quiet rhythm of monastic life.
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