See & do

Vreta Kloster ruin

Visit the ruins of Sweden’s oldest known monastery and feel the echoes of history.

At the entrance to the beautiful Bergs locks, adjacent to Vreta Kloster Church, lie the ruins of Sweden’s first monastery, founded as a Benedictine nunnery. Today, only remnants remain, including the Vreta Kloster Church.

In the early 1100s, King Inge the Elder and his wife Helena donated the land at Vreta for a monastery, the first in Sweden. It was established as a Cistercian convent in 1162 and continued until the last nuns passed away in the 1580s. Currently, the monastery church is surrounded by remnants of the monastery buildings, including the convent house, which was the nuns’ granary and has been restored and is now part of the church village’s visitor center.

Situated with expansive views over the Östergötland plains, the Vreta Kloster Church and ruins are a popular destination. Guided tours are conducted by the Klosterliv i Vreta association. Learn more about the association’s guided tours here.”