Section of the alterpiece in Hadsel Church. It was built in Utrecht and dates from approx.
1520 A.D. 

The minister’s farm at Hadsel constitutes a fascinating cultural landscape. Here you may see remains in the ground of the chieftain’s seat from the Iron Age: Impressive boathouse sites, sacrificial sites and burial mounds. You can re-live the history of Vesterålen’s ecclesial centre from the Middle Ages and up to our time. You can sense the days of glory here through the old funiture and fittings in the church, and imagine how the ministers used to live as you stroll in the garden – past the minister’s magnificent residence. Following the path by the water’s edge, you will see the contrast in remains of small homes of poor tenant farmers.

The island of Hadsel I come to see first, And there will the minister greet me as erst.
To pleasantly there make me welcome. For he in that region is counted the head (...)

Excerpt from The Trumpet of Nordland by Petter Dass (1739)