Mostad or Måstad is an abandoned village on the southern part of the island of

Værøya Værøya or Værøy is an island in Værøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The island makes up about 89% of the land area of the whole municipality and it is home to 100% of the municipal residents. Name The Old Norse form of the name ...

at the southern end of the

Lofoten Lofoten () is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. There are two towns, Svolvær ...

archipelago and is located on a

strandflat Strandflat ( no , strandflate) is a landform typical of the Norwegian coast consisting of a flattish erosion surface on the coast and near-coast seabed. In Norway, strandflats provide room for settlements and agriculture, constituting important ...

. It is located in

Værøy Municipality Værøy is an island municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sørland on the main island of Værøya. The other village in Vær� ...

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Mostad was in its prime around the year 1900 when over 120 people lived here. However, because there are no roads connecting to it and that it has a very unsatisfactory harbour, the village was abandoned a few years after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The last citizens left Mostad in the 1950s. Today, the place is an

El Dorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...

for those who seek wilderness and beauty. From 1950 to 1960, there were several houses from Mostad that were moved to the village of

Sørland Sørland is a Seaside resort, fishing village and the administrative centre of Værøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the southern side of the island of Værøya. The village is the main population center of the isl ...

on the other side of the island where living was much easier. only a few houses are left still standing. Catching

puffin Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...

s was a subsidiary source of income beside

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

. Catching puffins involved the use of the unusual puffin dog, also termed the Mostad dog or the

Norwegian Lundehund The Norwegian Lundehund (Norwegian: ''Norsk lundehund'') is a small dog breed of the Spitz type that originates from Norway. Its name is a compound noun composed of the elements ''lunde'', meaning puffin (Norwegian ''lunde'', "puffin", or ''lunde ...

. Puffin meat was cured in salt and lasted way into the autumn. Today, there are about 600 puffin dogs in Norway. All of them can be traced back to Mostad. Going ashore on Mostad is generally combined with a fishing trip or an expedition by boat to the

bird cliff Bird cliffs, or nesting cliffs, are steep cliffs with numerous small shelves which serve as nesting locations for bird colonies. Bird cliffs are found on islands in the North Atlantic and Arctic, such as the Faroe Islands, Iceland, the Svalbard ...

s. Mostad can also be reached by foot. Since 1996, simple overnight accommodation has been available at the schoolhouse in Mostad.

In literature

Pål Espolin Johnson's "For Love of Norway" is a fictionalized history of the village seen through the eyes of Magda, who arrives in 1909 to marry a local fisherman. This compelling, simply-told episodic account of residents of Mostad in the first few decades of the 20th century provides an intimate glimpse in lives lived in a harsh and unforgiving place, but one filled with human warmth.

Media gallery

Mostad.JPG, View of the only road in the village, Husbekkveien, from around 1900 Måstad 2009 1.JPG, View from above, looking down on the remaining houses (2009) DSC00156måstadfjell.JPG, View looking south at the village at the base of the mountain Måstad 01.jpg, House in Måstad Værøy DSCF1934 Norway.jpg, House in Måstad Måstad 2009 2.JPG, View of the village Måstad 02.jpg, View of the abandoned village in 2014

References

{{authority control Villages in Nordland Værøy Villages in Norway (depopulated)