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Experience nature at its most intense with all your senses in a beautiful nature reserve. The island has many different shapes and seasons, no two days are the same.
In spring, when the island is covered in beautiful flowers and sweet smells waft over the rocks. In summer, when the wildlife and birds fill the air with the sounds of nature and the sunsets are like balm for your soul. During storms that make the walls creak and beautiful white wave foam flies around the island. And in the evening and at night, when the darkness is darker and the stars more sparkling than anywhere else. Experience the magical moonlight as it shines over the two seas, the Kattegat and the Skagerrak, forming a strong moonlight outside.
Since ancient times, sailors have feared these waters. The name Pater Noster is Latin and means Our Father, a prayer that has been recited by sailors countless times before the ships dared to approach the jumble of islands and islets that make up the treacherous Pater Noster skerries. Almost a hundred islands spread out like a ribbon from Tjörn's southwestern cape out to Hamneskär which is a nature reserve enriched with seabirds, seals, fish, seaweed and shellfish.
Here, at the far end of the sea, in one of Sweden's most barren, windswept and exposed places, Pater Noster was eventually built - the king of lighthouses. A high-tech masterpiece that for more than a century guided, saved and gave hope to seafarers.
In the shadow of its protective light, the lighthouse master families built their homes and created a miniature community on an island that had always been considered uninhabitable. Pater Noster's lighthouse keeper's residence has also housed castaways who - despite the lighthouse's guiding light - were wrecked by the strong sea currents and treacherous grounds. For more than a hundred years they lived out here, on the island's and the sea's terms.
The lighthouse Pater Noster was built in 1868 on the island Hamneskär by the renowned engineer Nils Gustaf von Heidenstam, who was also commissioned to develop a lighthouse system along the Swedish coast. Of the eleven lighthouses built, nine remain today.
The Heidenstam lighthouses, the so-called Heidenstammers, were designed as open iron pillar towers. The design was simple and ingenious. The lighthouse was built in sections, three to seven, and could thus be varied in height. Pater Noster has one storey more than the other lighthouses built by Heidenstam - hence Pater Noster is called the "king of lighthouses".
Pater Noster is the most famous and stately iron lighthouse. It took 4 months to assemble Pater Noster and on November 1, 1868, it was lit with the help of lighthouse keepers who lived on the island. The lighthouse crew consisted of 3 families: the lighthouse keeper, the lighthouse keeper and the lighthouse assistant with their wives and children.
In 1977, Pater Noster was extinguished and replaced by the caisson lighthouse Hätteberget. Pater Noster ended its service and had to be dismantled due to the wear and tear it had been subjected to in the harsh weather.
For more than 30 years, the non-profit association Friends of Pater Noster fought for its lighthouse and finally got help from other actors, such as private individuals, industry and finally the state, to have the lighthouse completely renovated.
In July 2002, Pater Noster was lifted from her foundation on a barge. After extensive renovation, great efforts and large financial contribution, she was lifted on July 4, 2007 back on her foundation on the island Hamneskär. Today she shines for recreational and fishing boats and for all of us who are in love with Pater Noster, all the way to the mainland and the surrounding islands.
If you don't suffer from vertigo, you're more than welcome to climb the 32-meter-high Pater Noster Lighthouse, where you'll have a great view of the island, the sea and the horizon.
Pater Noster is since 2015 a state building monument with a high cultural and historical value that we want to preserve and take care of. We want to recreate certain parts of the lighthouse environment, such as the old lighthouse gardens. We also wish to bring back the old foghorn cannons that once stood by the foghorn house.
The lighthouse environment is unique with its lighthouse tower, foghorn house, dwelling house, powder house, photo booth, boathouse and outhouse.
As West Coast natives, the five of us who run Pater Noster have a great love for this place. We aspire to highlight the history and life of the island as it has been for 150 years. We live and breathe the salty breezes, the fresh air and are inspired by the winds of history.
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At Pater Noster we serve food with the sea as our biggest source of inspiration. Our kitchen specializes in fresh fish, world-class seafood and freshly harvested seaweed from Pater Noster.
We believe that seaweed has a big part in the future of food and here on the island you get to try some of the chef's love and passion for preparing dishes with seaweed as a raw material. Taste and learn about our delicious ingredients.
You can visit our summer café spontaneously during July-August, see more information here.
We work with carefully selected partners, who can guarantee the high quality we want to convey to our guests, to make everyone's stay with us a memory for life.
At Pater Noster we care about your comfort and want to give you a good night's sleep. That's why we have chosen to have DUX beds in all our rooms. The Swedish-designed bed has one goal, to deliver deep, restful sleep with perfect comfort so that you wake up refreshed and ready for the next day's experiences on the island. To find out more about the full range of DUX beds and furniture, click onwards.
Most interested in the sea around the island is Royal Court supplier Poseidon Diving Systems, which develops state-of-the-art products for all categories of divers. Since 1958, the Gothenburg-based company has been inventing groundbreaking equipment and pushing both technology and design. Discover the wonders of the sea and the moments that surround them during your stay with us with equipment from Poseidon.
Over 70 years have passed since the Swedish founder of Tylö built his first sauna heater. With solid traditions in craftsmanship, long experience and pride in its heritage, Tylö offers completely unique sauna experiences - something that we at Pater Noster fell for and thought fit especially well in our genuine and absolutely outstanding archipelago environment.
We always think long-term and are constantly working to improve our sustainability work. A sustainability mindset is part of every decision we make in our operation. From an environmental, social and economic sustainability perspective. It's our wish and goal that both we and our guests make as little impact as possible on the environment and nature.
