Alvastra
Encyclopedia
Ödeshög Municipality
Ödeshög Municipality is a municipality in Östergötland County, Sweden. The seat is situated in the small town of Ödeshög.The coat of arms was created in 1972 at the time the modern municipalities of Sweden were created...
in eastern Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. It is known for being the seat of the Cistercian Alvastra Abbey
Alvastra Abbey
Alvastra Abbey was a Cistercian monastery located at Alvastra in Östergötland, Sweden. It was founded in the first half of the 12th century by a donation of land from King Sverker I of Sweden to the Cistercian Order. It was dissolved and appropriated by the Crown at the time of the Protestant...
in the Middle Ages. After the Swedish Lutheran reformation in the 1530s, the monastery was demolished, never to be rebuilt.
The Alvastra monastery ruin is today well preserved and popular place to visit.