Alvastra Abbey, once a Cistercian monastery in Sweden, is now a ruin. It was founded in 1143 by monks who belonged to the Cistercian Order. A number of monks and lay brothers left the monastery of Clairvaux Abbey to settle there. It was established at Alvastra in Västra Tollstad parish in Ödeshög municipality on the site of a donation of land by King Sverker I of Sweden.
The monastery church was inaugurated in 1185. For nearly 400 years, Alvastra monastery prospered. Varnhem Abbey at Varnhem in Västergötland was founded around 1150 by monks of the Cistercian Order from Alvastra Abbey. Stefan, Archbishop of Uppsala, was a Cistercian monk from Alvastra monastery.
The abbey ruins contain the graves of Kings Sverker I, Carl I, Sverker II and John I, as well as Queens Richeza the Elder, Benedicta and (probably) Ulvhild. The monastery was dissolved and appropriated by the Crown at the time of the Protestant Reformation in accordance with the Reduction of Gustav I of Sweden.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nik Frost
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