The Settlement Center (Landnámssetur)
Landnámssetur Íslands
The Settlement Center is a museum in an old warehouse by the harbour in Borgarnes, West Iceland, telling two linked stories through audio-guided walk-through exhibitions: the settlement of Iceland, and the life of the warrior-poet Egill Skallagrímsson as recounted in Egil's Saga, which is set in this very district.
Region
West Iceland
Coordinates
64.5357° N, 21.9231° W
Plan the stop
- Allow
- 2 hrs
Accessibility
- Wheelchair · Partial
- The exhibitions, restaurant, and shop occupy a converted harbour warehouse; the main levels are reached on flat routes, though the historic building has some steps between areas.
- Limited mobility · Partial
- Short, mostly level distances within the building and from harbour-side parking.
- Sensory · Partial
- The walk-through exhibitions use narrated audio guides, dramatic lighting, and soundscapes in enclosed spaces.
- Cognitive · Full
- Two self-contained exhibitions, each following a clear narrated route in a choice of languages.
Why it matters
Borgarnes lies at the heart of the country described in Egil's Saga, one of the greatest of the Icelanders' sagas, whose hero Egill Skallagrímsson was a Viking, farmer, and skald descended from the first settlers of the district. His father Skalla-Grímur claimed and farmed the land at Borg á Mýrum just outside the town, and the saga's landscape of farms, headlands, and burial mounds can still be traced across the surrounding area. The museum's two exhibitions set this local story within the wider history of the landnám, the ninth- and tenth-century settlement of Iceland by Norse and Celtic emigrants, drawing on the medieval sources Íslendingabók and Landnámabók. The centre, opened in 2006, has become a leading interpreter of saga heritage and also runs a theatre staging saga-based productions.