Iceland review - 2012, Page 84

the heroine oF
guLLFoSS
TRAVEL
By Ásta andrésdóttir
Photo By PÁll stefÁnsson
82 ICELAND REVIEW
Sigríður Tómasdóttir of Brattholt (1874-1957) was Iceland’s
first environmental hero. She will be forever known and
revered as the savior of Gullfoss, one of Iceland’s most precious
natural attractions. All her life, Sigríður lived at the farm Brattholt,
located close to the waterfall. She was very fond of it, regularly
guiding visitors around the area and even laying its first walking
path for the 1907 visit of King Frederik VIII. At the turn of the 20th
century, general interest in harnessing Iceland’s waterfalls began
to grow, with Sigríður finding herself up against the nation’s rich-
est and most powerful men who coveted the energy Gullfoss
had to offer. Never relenting, she frequently traveled to Reykjavík
trying to convince the authorities to spare it. In the late 1920s,
after years of fighting, her cause appeared to be lost and so she
threatened to plunge herself into her beloved waterfall. But that
never happened; at the last minute it was saved. In 1945 the
government purchased Gullfoss from Sigríður and her husband
Einar, and in 1979 it was placed under protection. In 2010, the
Ministry for the Environment presented the first annual award to
pioneers in the field of environmental preservation, bearing the
name of the extraordinary Sigríður Tómasdóttir of Brattholt.
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