Selja Monastery

The legend attached to Selja tells of Sunniva, an Irish king's daughter who fled with her followers by sea and landed on this island, hiding in a cave when threatened and being buried when the rock fell; when the cave was opened in 996 the bodies were found undecayed, and she became Norway's first saint. A Benedictine monastery was built around the site in the twelfth century, and Selja was a bishop's seat before the see moved to Bergen in 1170. What survives is a substantial ruin: church walls, a stone tower, monastic buildings and the cave itself with a chapel inside, on a hillside above the shore. Boats run from Selje in summer with a guided walk up.

History

Selja was already an important Christian site when the Benedictine monastery was founded around 1100: the shrine of Saint Sunniva made it a place of pilgrimage, and from about 1070 it was the seat of a bishopric with a cathedral dedicated to Saint Michael, whose bishop helped bring the monastery here. The bishop's seat moved to Bergen, and Sunniva's shrine followed in about 1170, after which the monastery stood alone. For two centuries it thrived as a natural stopover halfway between Bergen and Nidaros, but a fire in 1305 dealt it a blow from which it never recovered; the small community may have died out in the Black Death of 1349, and if any of it remained, it ended under Bishop Finnboge of Bergen (1461-1474), who dismissed the last abbot and took the estates for his see (Wikipedia, Selja Abbey).

What to look for

• The monastery ruins - church walls, a tower and monastic buildings.
• The Sunniva cave - the rock shelter at the centre of the legend, with a chapel.
• The island setting - a green hillside above the sea off the Stad coast.
• The guided boat trip - the summer crossing and walk from Selje.

When to go

June to August, when the boat and guided tours run; the crossing depends on weather and this coast is exposed. Outside the season the island is difficult to reach and the site unstaffed.

Before you go

Access is by seasonal boat only, and sailings are cancelled in swell. The walk up from the landing is steep and rough. The ruins are substantial but unroofed and weathered, with the interpretation coming from the guide rather than signage.

Nearby

Selje village is across the water; Vestkapp, Hoddevik and the Stad peninsula lie north-west.

Key facts