Skriðuklaustur Monastery
Skriðuklaustur
Skriðuklaustur is the excavated site of a 16th-century monastery in the Fljótsdalur valley of East Iceland, now a heritage and cultural centre combining the ruined monastic foundations with the 1939 home of Icelandic author Gunnar Gunnarsson. Visitors can walk marked paths around the excavated ruins and view exhibitions on the monastery's history and the archaeological dig that uncovered it.
Region
East Iceland
Coordinates
65.0428° N, 14.9511° W
Plan the stop
- Allow
- 1 hr 30 min
Accessibility
- Wheelchair · Partial
- Good wheelchair access around Gunnar Gunnarsson's house and a paved path down to the ruins' viewing platform, but a ramp to the upper-floor museum has no lift, so that level is not reachable.
- Limited mobility · Partial
- Mostly level paved paths between the house, ruins, and viewing platform, with two car parks at upper and lower levels.
- Sensory · Full
- A quiet rural valley setting with an outdoor archaeological site and small indoor exhibitions.
- Cognitive · Full
- Clear interpretive signage and a marked route around the ruins and exhibitions.
Why it matters
Founded around 1493 by Bishop Stefán Jónsson of Skálholt, Skriðuklaustur was the last monastery established in Catholic Iceland before the Reformation dissolved it in 1554, after roughly 60 years of operation. A large archaeological excavation between 2000 and 2012, led by archaeologist Steinunn Kristjánsdóttir with staff from a dozen countries, uncovered a cemetery of around 300 graves whose skeletal remains showed evidence of infections, birth defects, and long-term chronic illness, establishing that the monastery had functioned as a hospital serving both monks and the local laity, a major discovery that reshaped understanding of medieval Icelandic monastic life. The site reopened as a public heritage centre in 2012, marking 500 years since the monastery's documented founding.