Archives

An archaeologist walks along the trails at Refsnes. She’s looking for traces of Stone Age people. The search begins near the summit. In the early Stone Age, over nine thousand years ago, the land was depressed by the great ice sheet, and the sea level was much higher. People set up camp and settled at...

Between five and six thousand years ago, there were three houses at Refsnes. Maybe not houses in the modern sense. But nevertheless solid structures, which provided shelter to the people who lived here at the time. From the Early Stone Age, over ten thousand years ago, people used a movable form of shelter, a tent...

On the 29th of April 1978, the largest quick clay landslide of the century struck Rissa. Over the course of 45 minutes, large tracts of firm ground was reduced to liquid clay. Fifteen farms, two family homes, a cabin and a community hall were eradicated and washed into the nearby lake. 32 people lost everything...

I am Sigrid Bårdsdatter, the first abbess of Rein Abbey. My half-brother was Duke Skule. Under the reign of the child King Håkon Håkonsson, the Duke was the most powerful man in the Kingdom. In the Year of our Lord 1226, Skule fell ill. In his prayers he vowed that if he survived, he would...

In 1773, during his journey through Norway with the aim of writing a grand work on Norwegian history, historian Gerhard Schøning looks out across the landscape of Stadbygda in Rissa. He is overwhelmed by the amount of burial mounds placed one after the other alongside the fjord, as far as the eye can see. He...

A burial mound clearly marked and highly visible in the flat landscape along the entrance to the Trondheim Fjord. Strategically placed between the fjord and the coastal thoroughfare. An area where powerful men and women have resided. Powerful families with estates and the ability to control traffic across both land and sea. The mound was...

HENRIK HORNEMAN: Ladies and gentlemen, I am Chief Justice Henrik Horneman. Today I have the pleasure of showing you our book collection. In this library we have collected books from near and far. Some are aquired on my travels abroad, and some are bought in auctions. Our trading ships carry food for the mind, as...

“Happy are those who love, when their love is returned.” The main building that towers on the hill at Rein today, like the monastery once did, was built by Thomas Ebbesen Horneman in 1866. The preceding building was frail and old, dark and cumbersome, so Thomas decided to build a new house for himself and...

The medieval tree garden had more than just fruit trees, but also broad-leaved trees providing shade. Ash was particularly common in the Norwegian gardens, and we find very old ash trees at the monasteries at Halsnøy and Utstein. The tree gardens were used for meditation and schooling, and they were often a bit secluded, like...