Hrafnseyri við Arnarfjörð

THE FAIREST FJORD OF ALL?

Arnarfjördur is the second largest fjord in the Westfjords, after Ísafjardardjúp, and the fjord with the most sea monster sightings in the country. There are many stories about monsters in the fjord, and in Bíldudalur, the only village by the fjord, there is an entire museum—the Sea Monster Museum—dedicated to the lore, where guests can learn about all these creatures allegedly living in Arnarfjördur. The fjord was settled by the Norseman Örn (last name unknown), who came from Rogaland in Norway and claimed the entire fjord. However, he lived there for only a short time before selling his settlement to Áni Raudfeldur and moving with his family and livestock to Eyjafjördur. Arnarfjördur is 38 km long and five to ten km wide, and it was densely populated until the mid-20th century. Today, only a few hundred people live in and around the fjord. Jón Sigurdsson, the foremost leader of Iceland’s independence movement in the 19th century and a national hero, was born in 1811 at Hrafnseyri by Arnarfjördur. Iceland’s National Day, June 17th, is his birthday. On this day in 1911, the University of Iceland was founded on the 100th anniversary of Jón’s birth, and on the same day in 1944, Iceland finally became an independent nation.