Kirkjubæjarklaustur
| Kirkjubæjarklaustur | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
| Coordinates | 63 ° 47 ′ N , 18 ° 3 ′ W | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Iceland | ||
| Southurland | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | IS-8 | ||
| local community | Skaftárhreppur | ||
| Residents | 196 (January 1, 2019) | ||
 Icelandic stable at Kirkjubæjarklaustur
|
|||
Kirkjubæjarklaustur [ cʰɪr̥cʏˌpaiˑjarˌkʰlœystʏr ] is a place of community Skaftárhreppur in the region Suðurland in the south of Iceland .
Kirkjubæjarklaustur had about 135 inhabitants in 2006.
geography
Kirkjubæjarklaustur is located between Vík í Mýrdal and Höfn . The place is located below the Systravatn lake , which is situated on a plateau, with its Systrafoss waterfall on the Skaftá glacier river . About 8 km west of the village is the canyon Fjaðrárgljúfur .
history
The place has a long history. It is said that monks from Ireland lived here even before the time of the conquest . From 1186 until 1550 there was a well-known nunnery , to which the names of the waterfall ( Systrafoss ) and the lake Systravatn above (Icelandic for "lake of the (monastery) sisters") refer. Legends tell of gold treasures hidden in the lake and their dangers. Kirkjubæjarklaustur is colloquially mostly called "Klaustur", which means something like monastery.
Jón Steingrímssons sermon on fire
When the Laki craters became active on July 20, 1783 , pastor Jón Steingrímsson gave one of his famous "fire sermons", which were followed by others. These are said to have had the effect that the lava spared the place and instead made its way through the river bed of the Skaftá . The chapel, consecrated in 1974, commemorates these events.
tourism
Today the place is an important service center for the residents of the area as well as for tourists who are on the ring road or inland.
The place is conveniently located to explore the volcanic areas of the Laki crater or the Eldgjá . From here you can also drive over to the Skaftafell National Park, which is about 45 km away , to go on mountain hikes, or a little further away to hike around the ice lakes on the Breidamerkulssander such as the Jökulsárlón .
Kirkjugólf
Kirkjugólf , the so-called basalt church paving , is also worth seeing . These are hexagonal lava pillars that are leveled with the ground by glacial grinding so that they actually look like cobblestones.
Attractions
traffic
Kirkjubæjarklaustur is on the Hringvegur ring road .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Jon Steingrimsson (Author), Keneva Kunz (Translator): Fires of the Earth - The Laki Eruption 1783–1784. Nordic Volcanological Institute and the University of Iceland Press, Reykjavík 1998. ISBN 9979-54-244-6 (English translation of Steingrimsson's notes)