Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.03.2019, Qupperneq 16

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16 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • March 15 2019
Stefan Jonasson
“Karlsefni sailed away
and arrived with his ship
in the north of Iceland,
in Skagafjörður,” says the
final chapter of the Saga
of the Greenlanders. “His
vessel was drawn ashore there
during the winter and in the
spring he bought Glaumbær
and made his home there,
dwelling there as long as he
lived. He was a man of the
greatest prominence. From
him and his wife, Guðríður, a
numerous and goodly lineage
is descended. After Karlsefni’s
death, Guðríður took charge
of the farmstead together with
her son, Snorri, who had been
born in Vinland. When Snorri
married, Guðríður travelled
abroad to the south, after
which she returned again to
the home of her son, Snorri,
who had caused a church to be
built at Glaumbær. Guðríður
then took the veil and retired
from the world, living there for
the rest of her days.”
Today, the museum at
Glaumbær preserves both
the memory of the Vinland
voyagers and a vibrant example
of the turf farms that dominated
the Icelandic landscape in the
18th and 19th centuries. There
has been a farm at Glaumbær
since the Settlement Age and it
was occupied until 1947, after
which the National Museum
of Iceland took possession of
this historic manor farm and
the Skagafjörður Heritage
Museum opened its doors
there in 1952. As the Saga
of the Greenlanders records,
Þorfinnur Karlsefni and
Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir
settled here with their son,
Snorri, following the family’s
return from Vinland, probably
during the second decade of
the 11th century, and their
descendants lived here for
some generations after that.
Guðríður herself is believed
to have made a pilgrimage
to Rome before settling back
down in Glaumbær, which
earned her the nickname
Guðríður víðförla – the
widely-fared or far-travelled.
Archaeological excavations
have unearthed Norse ruins
from the time when the Vinland
voyagers would have lived
at Glaumbær. However, the
main attraction is the turf
farmhouse from more recent
centuries, which gives visitors
an impression of what farm life
was like for our ancestors at the
time they immigrated to North
America during the “latter-day
Vinland voyages.” It might be
a little more accurate to say that
it shows what life was like for
those who were pretty well off,
since Glaumbær was a far more
substantial estate than most of
the homes our ancestors left
behind.
For those of us who have
had the good fortune to
visit L’Anse aux Meadows
in Newfoundland, there is
something almost magical
about visiting the farm where
those adventurous souls lived
after returning from that tiny
Norse outpost a millennium
ago. This part of the story
is memorialized in a bronze
sculpture of Guðríður and
Snorri that was created by
Ásmundur Sveinsson. There
are three casts of this statue:
one at Laugarbrekka on
Snæfellsnes, where Guðríður
was born, one in the lobby
of the National Library and
Archives of Canada in Ottawa,
and this one where Guðríður
spent her last days.
Glaumbær is located about
8 kilometres (or 5 miles) north
of Varmahlíð, on the Ring
Road, along Road 75, which
runs north to Sauðárkrókur.
The museum is open from the
beginning of April until the
middle of October, although
the hours vary by season.
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PHOTOS: STEFAN JONASSON
The turf farm at Glaumbær was built in stages during the 18th and 19th centuries and is now an open-air museum. Centre: the side entrance to the turf farm.
Right: sheep bones repurposed as toys for children with robust imaginations. Below: Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir and her son, Snorri Þorfinnsson, who is said
to have been born in Vinland. This statue was sculpted by Ásmundur Sveinsson.
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