Hvanneyrartorfan

Hvanneyri in Skallagrímur’s settlement area

In Borgarbyggð, with its 4090 inhabitants, two universities operate, one in Bifröst and the other in Hvanneyri. The municipality, which is the largest in the west of Iceland, holds many gems, one of which is the village of Hvanneyri in the south of Borgarfjörður. There you can find the headquarters of the Agricultural University of Iceland, the Agricultural Museum of Iceland and Ullarselíð, a craft store where handwoven Icelandic wool is the center of attention. Hvanneyrartorfan, with the first schoolhouses on the site, the old cowshed that houses the museum, a gymnasium, a storage and the church that was inaugurated in 1905, is owned by the University and is unique. Hvanneyrartorfan is protected because of its uniqueness, as the houses of the first Icelandic house masters are gathered on one and the same spot. The area of Hvanneyri is in the settlement of Skallagrímur Kveldúlfsson, the father of one of Iceland’s most famous sons, Egill Skallagrímsson. But Skallagrímur gave Grímur hinn Háleyski Þórisson land in the south of Borgarfjörður and he was the first occupant of Hvanneyri.