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Elias Fiigenschoug’s painting of Halsnøy monastery , 1656

Halsnøy Monastery

19.06.2018 - 16:12

Halsnøy Monastery is situated in the midst of the lush fjord country in Sunnhordland, on one of the old spits, or “necks”, that has given name to the island. Gently sloping fields lead down to the sea on both sides, in the south towards the Kloster Fjord, to the north towards the sheltered Klostervågen.

Kvinnherad Church

Kvinnherad Church

19.06.2018 - 16:12

The stately Kvinnherad Church with its characteristic profile set out against the mighty Malmangernuten in the background, gives you a rare feeling of being present in a historic landscape as you come around Nes and face the well-kept houses at the Skåla farm. The church at Skåla is one of four “fjordungskirker” (one of four main district churches) and this farm was the centre of this coastal administration district.

Main mine shaft in Valaheigruva mine.

Varaldsøy- mining

19.06.2018 - 16:13

There is still a lot of ore in the abandoned mines on Varaldsøy Island. If today's prices and availability of ore continue, it is doubtful whether the mines will resume operation. But, the pyrite is there, if the market should return. On Varaldsøy Island one finds at least nine mines and prospect pits, that for the most part date back to the latter part of the 1800s.

Reconstruction sketch of the yard at Høybøen, Fjell

Høybøen

12.06.2018 - 20:00

In connection with the planned developments in the oil sector at Vindenes around 1980, excavations were carried out under the auspices of Bergen Historical Museum. Exceptionally interesting traces of an old farm at Høybøen then came to light. These were the remnants of a farm where there had been two houses containing several rooms.

Landrovågen, the 1980's.

Landro

12.06.2018 - 20:01

Landro has been the largest estate on Sotra, including 15 farms with reasonable conditions for agriculture. Their boathouses have had an excellent harbour in Landrovågen. Landro thus has been a good basis for the combination of agriculture and fishing.

Amateur geologist Torgeir Garmo at work taking out crystals from the rock.

Ågotnes- crystals

12.03.2018 - 13:07

Road cuts and blast areas are a joy to rock collectors, even if the disturbance to nature is ever so disfiguring. These are the best kinds of places to hunt for crystals, which otherwise are removed by weather and wind. In the Ågotnes area there are especially many beautiful crystals to be found.

The Nottveit farms are situated without road access at Mofjorden.

Nottveit

17.06.2018 - 16:43

In one of the frame-built haysheds at Nottveit, at holding No. 3, we discover that several of the staves have a medieval look, with large dimensions and carefully rounded edges. According to tradition, it was the farms Nottveit and Mostraumen that supplied the timber for the stave church at Mo, and it is not unlikely that these farms received the old timber in return when the new church was erected there in 1593.

Mo with the Otterstad farm in the background early in the 1900s.

Otterstad

30.03.2018 - 19:53

Tthe Otterstad farms lie in the innermost part of Mofjorden, on the northwest side of the river. The row of stave-built boatsheds that belong to the farm were probably constructed a little after the middle of the 1800s. Both here and on the Mo side, the boatsheds were important storage places at the seashore; wood and other farm products intended for the town; corn and merchandise in return.

Aga farmyard

Aga

19.06.2018 - 18:35

The grand farm Aga on the west side of Sørfjorden, came under protection in 1937, when the agricultural reform threatened to disperse the old clustered settlement. “Lagmannsstova”, named after the “lagmann” (law speaker) Sigurd Brynjulfsson, was already protected in 1924; one of the authentic profane wooden buildings from the Middle Ages still standing. All the same it is the farmyard itself that is the key cultural monument.

Today Jåstadstova is placed at Hardanger Folk High School at Lofthus

Jåstad

27.05.2018 - 15:23

The farm Jåstad, situated a few kilometres north of Agatunet, must have been a grand farm in medieval times. Torolf on Jåstad is mentioned as arbitration moderator in 1293, and in the vaulted corridor at Lyse Kloster Sigurd, farmer at Jåstad, and his wife Sigrid – the king’s kinswoman - are buried.

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