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Landnámssetrið - the Settlement Centre
The Settlement Exhibition
Granastaðir - Grani's Farm- Cairn no. 1
Skalla-Grímur and Brákarsund Strait - Cairn no. 2
Skalla-Gríms Burial Mound and Park - Cairn no. 3
Borg á Mýrum - Borg at Mýrar - Cairn no. 4
Rauðanes - Bog Iron Peninsula - Cairn no. 5
Ánabrekka - Áni Slopes - Cairn no. 6
Einkunnir - Cairn no. 7
Krumskelda - Cairn no. 8
Hvítárvellir - White River Plains- Cairn no. 9
My Viking Ancestry
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Regína Hrönn Ragnarsdóttir
Open Gallery
The Saga of the Viking Egill Skallagrímsson & the 9 Cairns in West-Iceland
By
Regína Hrönn Ragnarsdóttir
Verified Local
Have you visited the 9 cairns from the Saga of the Viking Egill Skallagrímsson?
Borgarnes in West-Iceland (pop. approx. 1,880) was the home of one of the settlers in Iceland, Skalla-Grímur Kveldúlfsson, and his rascal son Egill, who was raised at Borg at Mýrar, just outside of Borgarnes town.
In Borgarnes town you will find the award-winning Settlement Centre in two of the oldest building in Borgarnes, with excellent exhibitions about the settlement of Iceland and the Saga of Egill, which is amongst the best-known Icelandic Sagas
Top photo: Egill Skallagrímsson as depicted at the Settlement Centre in Borgarnes.
By cairn no. 9 at Hvítárvellir
And both in Borgarnes and in the surrounding areas you can go on a cairn-hunt, as the curators of the Settlement Centre, Kjartan Ragnarsson and Sigríður Margrét Guðmundsdóttir, have erected 9 cairns at important locations from the Saga of Egill.
Landnámssetrið - the Settlement Centre
At the Settlement Centre in Borgarnes
There are two exhibitions at the Settlement Centre; one of them is on the settlement of Iceland in 874 (give or take a few years) until the establishment of Alþingi, the old Viking Parliament in 930 - and the other exhibition is about the life of the Viking Egill Skallagrímsson from the Saga of Egill, both of them equally interesting.
Skalla-Grímur Kveldúlfsson was one of the Norwegian settlers in Iceland, who sailed from Norway with his father Kveld-Úlfur. Kveld-Úlfur got ill on the way and died. Before he died he ordered his son, Skalla-Grímur, to take up habitation in Iceland where Kveld-Úlfur's coffin would land.
The coffin landed in Borgarnes and there Skalla-Grímur made a home at Borg in Mýrar just outside of Borgarnes.
At the Settlement Centre in Borgarnes
His son was Egill Skallagrímsson (approx. 910-990), one of the best-known Vikings and poets at this time. His story is depicted in the Saga of Egill. I read the Saga of Egill in college, so visiting the Settlement Centre was a good revision. The exhibition is excellent and makes for a very interesting visit.
At the Settlement Centre you can learn all about Egill Skallagrímsson and his story, but reading the Saga of Egill is strongly recommended as well to benefit the most from your visit. You can also download the app Locatify and listen to it before you arrive.
The Settlement Exhibition
The Settlement Exhibition depicts the settlement of Iceland from around 874 until the establishment of Alþingi, the old Parliament that the Vikings established back in 930. It tells the story of the Norwegian Vikings who settled in Iceland and why they left Norway. And why our Icelandic heritage is not only Norwegian but also Irish.
It is a very interesting exhibition, which takes some 30 minutes to complete with an audio guide. I recommend that you visit both these exhibitions and grab something to eat at the restaurant at the Settlement Centre before you check out the locations of the cairns.
Now let's go on a treasure hunt and look for all the 9 cairns!
Granastaðir - Grani's Farm- Cairn no. 1
Cairn no. 1 at Granastaðir
Cairn no. 1 is located at Granastaðir - Grani's Farm, above the camping area in Borgarnes, by ring-road 1. Grani was a crew member on Skalla-Grímur Kveldúlfsson's ship and settled at Granastaðir.
Egill Skallagrímsson was born at the close-by Borg, but his childhood playmate, Þórður Granason, grew up at Granastaðir farm.
Here in Sandvík the ill-fated ball game between Egill and Þórður in one team, and Skalla-Grímur in another team, took place. You can read this account in the Saga of Egill, chapter 40. Below I have written a description of the game, which led to the death of both Þórður and the bond-maid of Skalla-Grímur.
Cairn no. 1 is by the entrance to the camping area.
Skalla-Grímur and Brákarsund Strait - Cairn no. 2
Cairn no. 2 at Brákarsund
Cairn no. 2 is located at Brákarsund Strait and written on it in Icelandic is "Hér drekkti Skalla-Grímur Brák" meaning that Skalla-Grímur drowned Brák at this location.
Skalla-Grímur Kveldúlfsson had a bond-maid named Þorgerður Brák. She had been the nanny and foster mother to Egill, the son of Skalla-Grímur, and is described as big and strong as a man and skilled in magical arts.
Cairn no 2 is easily accessible in Borgarnes town
One day in the wintertime when Egill was 12 years old Skalla-Grímur was playing a ball game at Borg with Egill and his friend, Þórður Granason. At first, the boys were winning, but later on, in the evening Skalla-Grímur got really strong and grabbed Þórður and tossed him onto the ground with such force that Þórður died.
He then went after his own son, Egill. Þorgerður Brák was watching the game and said: "Hamask þú nú, Skalla-Grímr, at syni þínum". It roughly translated means if Skalla-Grímur is now going to attack his own son.
Cairn no. 2 at Brákarsund
Skalla-Grímur got so angry that he let loose Egill and tried to grab Þorgerður Brák, but she ran. Skalla-Grímur chased her down to the sea where she jumped from a cliff into the sea and tried to reach the island outside of Borgarnes, now called Brákarey island.
Skalla-Grímur threw a big rock at her with such great force that Þorgerður Brák didn't resurface. Since that time the strait where she drowned is called Brákarsund - Brákar strait.
The monument Brákin stands tall on the hill above the Settlement Centre in remembrance of Þorgerður Brák and her ill fate.
Brákarsund monument
Brákarey island is off the shore of Borgarnes and is now connected to land by a bridge.
The island was named after Þorgerður Brák and so is the street Brákarbraut where she ran while trying to escape from the mad Skalla-Grímur.
You can visit cairn no. 2 and the monument by Brákarbraut just behind the Settlement Centre.
Skalla-Gríms Burial Mound and Park - Cairn no. 3
By cairn no. 3 Skalla-Grímshaugur
Cairn no. 3 is located by Skalla-Grímshaugur - Skalla-Grím's Burial-Mound. On it is written in Icelandic "Hér voru heygðir Skalla-Grímur og Böðvar" meaning that Skalla-Grímur and Böðvar were buried here.
Here you will find what we'd like to believe is the burial-mound of Skalla-Grímur Kveldúlfsson and his grandson Böðvar, the son of Egill Skallagrímsson.
Egill had the burial-mound of his father reopened and buried Böðvar, who was only a teenager when he drowned in Hvítá river, in the burial-mound with his grandfather.
Skalla-Grímur had died of an unknown disease and drawings by the mound show how he was buried with his horse and weapons and tools.
An ornamental park is built around the mound, with a beautiful relief of grief-struck Egill Skallagrímsson carrying his drowned son Böðvar home on a horse, an astounding work by Anne-Marie Carl-Nielsen, which was donated to Iceland in 1963.
Source: Local signage