Tora Mostrastong

Thora Mostaff
Tora Mostrastong vert omtalt av Snorre. Ho høyrde til ei av dei gjævaste ættene på Vestlandet i vikingtida, Horda-Kåre ætta, og kom frå Moster.

Tora tyder den «kjempesterke». Ho var ei staut og vakker kvinne og truleg høgreist og stolt i og med tilnamnet ”Mostrastong”. Som ung jente kom ho i teneste hos Harald Hårfagre som var konge i Noreg ca. 872-933. Ho vart ei av frillene hans og fekk ein son med han då Harald Hårfagre nærma seg 70 år. Denne guten fekk namnet Håkon Haraldson Adalsteinsfostre.

Tora Mostrastong viste både mot og handlekraft då ho krevde sin rett overfor barnefaren Harald Hårfagre. Ho sørgde også for å få henta sonen heim frå England for å overta kongsmakta i Noreg.

Eigenskapane til Tora blir heidra kvart år i Moster Amfi gjennom utdeling av Toramostrastongprisen ved foreninga Tora Mostrastong. Æresprisen går til ei kvinne i Noreg som over tid har synt stor vilje og evne til positiv samfunnsinnsats.

Håkon Haraldsen Adalsteinsfostre

1.kristningskonge

Håkon 1.

Levde år: ca 918-961

Regjeringstid: ca. 933 - ca. 961

Håkon the Good

Håkon the Good was fostered as the heir to the throne and as a Christian by King Athelstan of England. Håkon the Good is known famous for being the first king to try to introduce Christianity to Norway. The new impulses were not well received. The churches he built were burned, and the priests he appointed were killed.

He got the name of Håkon the Good because he was the first king of the realm to take the side of the farmers. He negotiated with the farmers to found the “leidang”, an effective defence organisation based on conscription.

Håkon is also known for reorganising the two main farmers’ legislative assemblies in Western Norway and Trøndelag: Gulating and Frostating.

He was mortally wounded in the Battle of Fitjar In 961 and died at Hella, which is where he was born.

Olav Tryggvason

According to Snorre, Moster was the first place Olav Tryggvason came ashore when he returned home in 995 in order to claim the kingship and Christianise the country. This event marked the start of a thousand years of Christianity in Norway, which was celebrated in 1995 in Moster.
“Now Olav sailed east across the sea, and went ashore at the outer coast of Moster. It was there that he set foot on land in Norway for the first time, and there that he had a mass sung in his tent on the shore. A church was then built on the same spot.” (SNORRE)
Snorre told that Olav grew up in Russia and went on Viking raids at a fairly young age, taking part in many battles in the Baltic region, England, Scotland and Ireland. He got to know Christianity on his voyages, and was christened in England in 995.
It was his Christianisation work that became associated with his reign, although this was not a task that was completed while he was alive.

Olav Tryggvason – 2nd Christian king
Olav I
Lived: 968–1000

Regjeringstid: Reign: 995–1000

Olav Haraldsson – 3rd Christian king
Olav II – Olav the Holy
Lived: 995–1030

Regjeringstid: Reign: 1015–1028

Olav Haraldsson

Olav grew up in Ringerike at the home of his stepfather Sigurd Syr. At the age of 12 he was going on Viking raids, was baptised in Rouen in around 1013 and returned to Norway in 1015.
In 1016, Olav won a sea battle at Nesjar, where he defeated his opponents and took control over a kingdom that extended from the Gøta River in the south to Finnmark in the north, and from the Vesterhav islands in the west to the forests bordering Sweden in the east.
Olav built up a clerical organisation and legislation based on Christian values and a Christian perspective on humanity. The first laws were ratified at the Mostrating assembly in 1024. The Christian Law that was drawn up that year may be Olav’s most important and influential legacy in terms of the formation of the nation of Norway.
Olav Haraldsson fell in battle at Stiklestad on 29 July 1030.
A year later, his body was exhumed, declared holy by the Church, and enshrined on the high altar of Saint Clement’s church in Nidaros.

Bishop Grimkjell

Lived in the 11th century. Grimkjell was Olav Haraldsson’s royal bishop and advisor on spiritual matters. He was mentioned both in the Kings’ Sagas and in the old Norwegian laws as an important assistant to Olav Haraldsson in the introduction of Christian Law at the Mosterting assembly in 1024, where the oldest Norwegian church organisation was established. He also played an important role in the canonisation of Olav Haraldsson in 1031.
https://fortidsminneforeningen.no/fylkesavdelinger/hordaland/

Old Moster Church

The church at Moster is one of the oldest stone churches in the country and was built to be the main church for Hordaland. In the early Christian era, this was one of the few churches in the county. Construction is believed to have been started in the 12th century. The information in Snorre that Olav Tryggvason had built a church at Moster soon resulted in the stone church being known as Olav Tryggvason’s Church.
Moster Church is one of the simplest church buildings in the country, with a square choir and rectangular nave. The only external adornment is the soapstone base.
Inside, the walls are covered with post-Reformation decoration from around 1620.
The protected interior shows that the church underwent major interior alterations in the early 17th century. What makes the church at Moster so special is that the Old Lutheran liturgical space is so well preserved.
The present owners of the church is the Hordaland branch of the Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments.

Coastal Pilgrim Route

The Coastal Pilgrim Route is the name of the pilgrim way from Egersund up to Nidaros. Nidaros was the most important place of pilgrimage in Northern Europe until the Reformation in 1537. Pilgrims from Norway and beyond travelled along the coastal route up to Nidaros, where the relics of Olav the Holy lay. As early as 1075, Nidaros was mentioned as a place of pilgrimage for pilgrims. Travelling as a pilgrim along the Norwegian coast could involve many stops on the way, and could mean a dangerous journey with harsh weather and pirates.
A pilgrim is a person who for spiritual reasons travels to a holy place. For many, their goal was a saint’s grave or holy relics, while for others, the journey itself was the point.
These days, the Coastal Pilgrim Route aims to give us a deeper understanding of the cultural history and religious aspects of the pilgrimage tradition. It is a journey on which we can experience coastal history, heritage sites and church history, but at the same time, it also aims to increase our understanding of the environment and promote activity and public health.
Between Egersund and Nidaros, Moster stands out as an important stopping point on the route, with Moster Old Church as an important heritage site and one of Norway’s national treasures.
Source:
https://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kystpilegrimsleia#cite_note-3

Moster 2024

https://www.moster2024.no/

Introduction of Christian Law 1000 years. Moster 1024–2024
The 900th anniversary of the introduction of Christian Law was celebrated on 29 July 1924, in the presence of King Haakon VII and several thousand participants. It was then that the cross on Vetahaugen was erected.

In 2024, we celebrated the fact that it is 1000 years since Olav the Holy introduced Christian Law at the Mosterting assembly. It will be a celebration of the start of the constitutional state and the democracy of Norway. In 2024 the focus will be on the values on which Norway is built, and will open the big discussion about what sort of country Norway will be in the future.
The anniversary will have a particular focus on children and young people: the generations that will shape the future. There will be another public festival in Moster, just as there was in 1995!
1000 years of the church in Norway Moster 995–1995
The main celebrations were in Moster on a few beautiful summer days in June 1995. It had been 1000 years since Olav Tryggvason sailed across the sea and came ashore at Moster with his bishop and a company of priests. As written by Snorre, it was 1000 years ago that a mass was celebrated on this shore in a tent. In 1995, there were masses, concerts, crowds and public celebrations in Moster.

Never before had there been such a gathering of church communities in Norway, possibly not even in the entire Nordic region. Visitors from Norway and abroad took part in the festival, including the King and Queen of Norway, President of the Storting, Prime Minister, Patriarch of Constantinople, Vatican Cardinal, church leaders from all over the Nordic region, led by the entire Norwegian episcopate.

A down-to-earth enthusiasm and spirit of collective effort in all the participants, combined with the beautiful weather, made the days in Moster an extraordinary experience for everyone who was present.
In-depth articles

Read all the in-depth articles here.

Sunnhordland Geopark

Moster Amfi has been teaching the 10,000 geological history of the Stones of Bømlo for many years, with a special stone exhibition in Moster Amfi’s mine.

The geological legacy and culture of the archipelago, fjord and mountains of Sunnhordland were given Norwegian Geopark status in 2018.

Moster Amfi, Sunnhordland Museum and the Folgefonn Centre are the main gateways to Sunnhordland Geopark. The main gateways aim to provide information about the many geological destinations and the spirit of Sunnhordland, which is embedded in our landscape and culture.

The goal is to get people of all ages to explore the landscape in which we live, and study the geology which shows the ravages of time and bears witness to how the landscape was formed.

Mostraspelet

The two “Mostraspela” plays depict dramatic and turbulent times in Norwegian history, when Moster was at the centre of important historic events. For a few hours, the audience is transported back in time to witness how these major upheavals in society have also left traces on individuals. Our national history has been brought alive in the historic setting of Bømlo Theatre, which has been performing these history plays since 1984.

“The Christian kings at Moster” by Johannes Heggland premièred in 1984 and was performed every year until 2013, and once more in 2015.

“On a night like this” by Svein Tindberg premièred in 2016. For more than 30 years, Bømlo Theatre has been bringing together almost 100 actors and musicians in the open-air theatre for historic days in Moster Amfi to perform the Mostraspel plays.

Historic Moster

Moster

Tora Mostrastong

Håkon the Good

Olav Tryggvason

Olav Haraldsson

Bishop Grimkjell

Old Moster Church

Coastal Pilgrim Route

Moster 2024

Sunnhordland Geopark

Mostraspelet

Meny

Norsk Kulturarv

Norwegian Cultural Heritage

Generell førespurnad