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Kirkjubæjarklaustur - Town - South East Iceland

by road no. 1, between Vík and Höfn in Hornarfjörður

Region: South East

About: (Description)
Kirkjubæjarklaustur was for a long time one of the biggest farms of the country Skaftafellssýsla and now a village with among other things the community centre Kirkjuhvoll and a weather station.

Christian Irishmen are supposed to have lived there before the Norse settlement, and after Ketill the foolish settled there no heathen people were allowed to live at this spot.

A convent was situated there from 1186 until the Reformation in the 16th century. Many palace-names remind us of the convent, such as Systrastapi (The sisters' crag) systrafoss (the sisters' falls) systravatn (the sisters' lake) and Sönghóll (Hill of Chanting) to the south of the river Skaftá, where the monks of Þykkvibær on their way to visit the nuns of Kirkjubæjarklaustur would start their chanting as Kirkjubæjarklaustur came in to sight.

West of Systrastapi is Eldmessutangi (Fire sermon point) where, in the eruption of 1783, the advancing lava miraculously stopped before it reached the church where Rev. Jón Steingrímsson was delivering his famous "eldmessa" (fire sermon). It was common belief that it was due to his prayers that the lava-stream stopped.

How to get there:
From Selfoss take road no. 1 direct to Kirkjubæjarklaustur about 200 km

source Iceland Road Atlas

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