Skriduklaustur

Gunnar Gunnarsson was among the most widely read Icelandic novelists of the twentieth century, writing largely in Danish and publishing across Europe, and in 1939 he returned from Denmark and built this house in Fljotsdalur to a design by the German architect Fritz Hoger, with turf on the roof and dark stone walls. He gave it to the Icelandic state in 1948. Excavations on the same site between 2002 and 2012 uncovered a monastery of the Augustinian order founded in 1493 and closed at the Reformation, together with a burial ground; the finds indicated it also functioned as a hospital, with skeletal evidence of illness and treatment.

What you actually see

• A writer's house of 1939 - designed by Fritz Hoger, turf roofed.
• A monastery excavated beneath - founded 1493, closed at the Reformation.
• Evidence of a hospital - skeletal remains showing illness and care.
• A house given to the state - handed over by Gunnarsson in 1948.

When to go

May to September, when the house and cafe are open. Two to three hours.

Honest expectations

The excavation is presented as outlines and interpretation rather than standing ruins. The house is small and mostly given to exhibitions. Opening is seasonal. It is a detour from the ring road up a fjord valley.

Nearby

The Wilderness Center is further up the valley; Hengifoss is across the lake.