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Laugarbrekka (Snæfellsnes)

Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir with Snorri

Ásmundur Sveinsson
2000

Description

Small statue of Guðríður, carrying Snorri on her shoulder, in a boat.

Annotation

This statue was on June 25, 2000(?) unveiled at her birthplace Laugarbrekka, Iceland, by Iceland's president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. Presently, on that location is only this small memorial with several explanatory signs. A village, or even a house, cannot be seen from here!

Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir, wife of Þorfinnur Karlsefni Þórdarson, gave birth to a son in about 1004, during their stay in Vinland. This son, Snorri Þorfinnsson is the first child of European descent to be born in North America. See the story on the Glaumbær page (there is also an identical same statue, a third copy is in Ottawa).

The farm Laugarbrekka in the Breidavik County on the southern side of the Snaefellsnes peninsula near the fishing hamlet Hellnar, was abandoned in 1887. According to the Bardar-Saga, Bardur lived at Laugarbrekka as long as he could stand being among the human race. His ancestry was mixed. His mother was human, but his father was a giant, and therefore Bardur's character and mentality was mixed. He used to take baths in the nearby-situated Bardarlaug, which still exists near Hellnar. The granddaughter of the first settler of Laugarbrekka, Guðríður, was the second wife of Þorfinnur Karlsefni.

Sculptor

Ásmundur Sveinsson

Sources & Information

Locatie (N 64°44'30" - W 23°38'54") (Satellite view: Google Maps)

Item Code: is005; Photograph: 10 June 2003

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