About place

At the Saga Centre in Hvolsvöllur, guests are invited into a medieval world of Icelandic culture in the early centuries of Iceland’s history. The exhibition covers such subjects as ocean travel and navigation, religion, Viking cosmology, and the literary art of the sagas, Iceland’s most important contribution to world literature. Prominence is given to Njáls Saga, the masterpiece of Icelandic sagas, which takes place in the Rangárvellir region. The saga tells of the close friendship between the hero, Gunnar of Hlídarendi, and the sage, Njáll of Bergthórshvoll; and it tells of their wives, who are sworn enemies and think nothing of sacrificing the lives of slaves and labourers in the service of their own virulent disputes, it tells of powerful love, conflicts and deceit, battles and holy reconciliation. The pagan way of thinking and complicated intrigues, gives Gunnar´s enemies the right to kill him and the sage Njáll and his wife are burned to death in their home with their sons. In the Viking Hall, a replica of a medieval longhouse, its walls paneled with timber, and the benches are clad with horsehide, the guest can sit down or continue to the model of the assembly site at Þingvellir around 1000 AD. The Centre also houses an interesting exhibition on the history of commerce and the cooperative movement in South of Iceland.

Open summer 09:00 – 19:00 from June 1. – Septemer 1.