Utstein Abbey

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Utstein Abbey (in Norwegian Utstein Kloster) is Norway's best-preserved medieval monastery, founded in 1265 on the island of Mosterøy in Rennesøy municipality, Rogaland county. The monastery was closed due to the Lutheran reformation in 1537, and served as a manor house for a long time.

Utstein Abbey can be reached from Stavanger in 30 minutes by driving through the Rennfast underwater tunnel.

Utstein Abbey is the best-preserved abbey in the whole of Norway, still using both the church part and the eastern and southern part of the ground floor.

At its most, about 20–30 monks lived there amongst twice as many people who stood for the building, the cooking and the farming. The abbey owned a lot of land, and could feed about 250 people every year.