Bessastaðir is a manor in the Icelandic municipality of Garðabær (until 2012 Álftanes), a few kilometers southwest of Reykjavík. It is now used as the official residence of the Icelandic President.
The area around Bessastaðir was probably first settled before the year 1000.[1] It was probably the first official settler of Iceland, Ingólfur Arnarson, who laid claim to the land.
In the 13th century, Snorri Sturluson owned a farm here. This is documented by the mention in the Íslendinga saga of his nephew Sturla Þórðarson. The medieval manor passed to the King of Norway after Snorri's death in 1241. Bessastaðir subsequently became the seat of the royal representatives (first the Norwegian king, later the Danish king) and remained so until the end of the 18th century. From 1785 to 1789, the Danish canon magistrate Hans Christoph Diederich Victor von Levetzow lived here, and his son Dietrich Wilhelm von Levetzow was born here in 1786.
In 1805, the country's only secondary school at the time, called Lærði Skólinn (German: the School of Scholars), was founded in Bessastaðir after its predecessor, Hólavallarskóli, was closed down.
It remained on this site for 40 years, but was relocated back to Reykjavík in 1846. This eventually became the secondary school Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík, which is still located in the capital's city center today.
In 1867, the property became the property of the writer Grímur Thomsen (1820–1896), who lived here for two decades.
Later owners were Skúli Thoroddsen and his wife Theodóra Thoroddsen.
In 1940, the farm was acquired by Sigurður Jónasson and later donated to the Icelandic state.