Alvastra () is a small village in

Ödeshög Municipality Ödeshög Municipality () is a Municipalities of Sweden, 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 ...

in eastern

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. It is known for being the seat of the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

Alvastra Abbey Alvastra Abbey (''Alvastra klosterruin'') was a Cistercian monastery located at Alvastra in Östergötland, Sweden. History Alvastra monastery was founded in 1143 by French monks who belonged to the Cistercian Order. A number of monks and lay ...

in the Middle Ages, established in 1143 by French monks. After the

Reformation in Sweden The Reformation in Sweden is generally regarded as having begun in 1527 during the reign of King Gustav I of Sweden, but the process was slow and was not definitively decided until the Uppsala Synod of 1593, in the wake of an attempted Counter-R ...

in the 1530s, the monastery was demolished, never to be rebuilt. The Alvastra monastery ruin is today well preserved and popular place to visit.

References

Populated places in Ödeshög Municipality {{Östergötland-geo-stub

See also

References