Klaustur Historic

South

Kirkjubæjarklaustur — shortened to "Klaustur" by everyone — sits beside the Ring Road in South Iceland on land thought to have been occupied by Irish monks before Norse settlement. A Benedictine convent operated here from 1186 until the Reformation closed it around 1550. The village's most dramatic moment came during the 1783 Lakagígar eruption, the largest lava flow in recorded history, when lava advanced toward the settlement. Pastor Jón Steingrímsson delivered his famous Fire Sermon that July, and the flow halted. A memorial chapel marks the site. Today Klaustur is primarily a service stop. Between Vík and Höfn there are few alternatives on the Ring Road — fuel, a supermarket, accommodation, a restaurant, and a pool are all here. The surroundings are worth a short walk. Kirkjugólf — a natural basalt pavement worn flat by glaciation — sits at the village's edge and looks like a tiled floor. Systrafoss waterfall drops behind the village, Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon is a short drive west, and the turn-off to the Lakagígar crater row is nearby when summer F-roads are open.

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