Austrått Manor – A key point on the Coastal Pilgrim Path

Austrått Manor has been a landmark at the mouth of the Trondheim Fjord for 1000 years. The farm is first mentioned about 1020 as the seat of the King’s lieutenant. From the Middle Ages it was owned by some of the country’s foremost noble families. The first church was probably constructed here in the 11th century. The tower at the East end of the main wing is from a 13th century stone church that was built as a symbol of power facing the strait of Trondheimsleia. In the Middle Ages women could also wield the power. Mrs Ingjerd Ottesdatter, or Mrs Inger of Østeraad as she was referred to by Henrik Ibsen, ran the farm and its enormous estate after she was widowed in the 1520s. She was also the only women in the country who served as a King’s governor or Lord in several provinces. Mrs Ingjerd and her sons in law were the first family of significance in Norway to embrace Lutheran doctrines. Their motives for the change of faith are disputed, but more than half of the sources relating to Lutheranism before the reformation relate to this family. Chancellor Ove Bjelke gave the main building the characteristics that it has today in the middle of the 17th century. He was Mrs Ingjerds great great grandson. According to the tastes of the time, Bjelke adorned his building with two of the 17th century’s most influential sources: the bible and antiquity. The chapel houses one of the country’s largest collections of medieval holy wood carvings. Welcome to Austrått!