A Benedictine Abbey in Selja, a tiny historic island in Norway

This is a place as intriguing as it is somehow magical: on a tiny islet of the North Sea, near the Arctic Circle, lies a medieval Abbey founded in honor of both the Irish Saint Sunniva and the British Saint Alban.

The Church of St. Alban

The building of Selja Island Abbey started during the reign of King Olav I (995-1000) and was finished around 1100. It was occupied by 10 to 15 monks.

Fictional representation of what would be the Benedictine Monastery at its peak.

 

For two centuries it was a place of pilgrimage to Saint Sunniva, then a great fire in 1305, followed by abandonment due to Plague, led to the current ruinous state. 

  

 " Volto Santo " from Lucca, ca. 1100, found in Selja. 

 

According to legend and some documented facts, Sunniva and his companions escaped by boat from an Irish tyrant and landed on the island of Selja, taking shelter inside caves in the mountain. Time passed, until the pagan Count Hakon arrived to dislodge them. Sunniva and his men entered deep into the caves, but the mountain collapsed and they were buried. It happened in 996, and since then the cult of the Selja martyrs remains. Saint Sunniva, though born in Ireland, is the only female saint in Norway.

 

Island of Selja

Coordinates: 62° 3′ N, 5° 17′ E

The Island of Selja (from the latin Selia), located in the bay of Sildagapet on the coast of Vestland (Norway), facing the port village of Selje, has only 5 permanent inhabitants, who manage the pier and the reception to visitors; for short trips transport by ferry is available, connecting Selja to the village of Selje, with just over 700 inhabitants. It's the departing place for pilgrims and tourists to reach the island. But only a small group each day !

The Monastery was a large sized complex with courtyards and arcades. Of his Church only the Tower remains.

The south and east wings were built in stone at the end of the 1200s, with the west wing being completed in the early 1300s. 

The Abbey is at the foot of the Northwest of Selja Mountain (200 m), where the caves are located. 

At Klostervågen harbour one finds Munkestøda, the ruins of the monastery’s boathouse.

On the opposite side of the island, facing the coast, Selja is open to the bay of Sildagapet in the North Sea; there is a dockyard and some houses, among them the house of the former boatman.

The port on the eastern side of the island, with the cabin and the floating pier for the small boat that links to Selje.

Crossing the bay, we arrive in Selje, which has two different neighbourwoods: the oldest, with the church and boat cabins, and the modern one, with administrative buldings and a leisure port.

Selje's old harbour and church.

An idyllic waterfront.

This is a lesser Norway, not too wealthy nor refined, proving that there are still  places for isolation and sober living.

In Selje there is a pilgrimage center that welcomes both locals and visitors - the well-kept Selje Prestegard.

  

For those visiting the island of Selja, there are three possible walking routes from the pier to the Monastery:

 

Kloster = Abbey

Selja in Sildegard Bay on the North Atlantic: what a scenery !