Þykkvabæjarklaustur

Þykkvabær Monastery is in Álftaver, and was a monastery from the Augustinian order that was founded in 1168 and remained active until the Reformation in Iceland in 1550. The monastery became a large landowner and wealthy in its time as well as a center of learning, and many distinguished people stayed there during its existence.

The first abbot there was Þorlákur Þórhallsson, later bishop of Skálholt, after whom Þorláksmessa Mass (23^rd of December in Iceland) is named and he was considered a holy man after his death. Eysteinn Ásgrímsson was also a monk there, but he most likely wrote the religious poem Lilja. It is also believed that the Saga of the Svínfell Men and the Saga of Hrafnkell Frey´s Godi were recorded at the Monastery.

Today, there is a church at Þykkvibær, which was built in 1864, but a short distance south of it is a commemorative basalt column, which stands on the site where the monastery is believed to have stood. However, recent research by archaeologists has shown that the monastery probably stood further from the church, under the old farm site of the farm Fornufjós, which is also close to the current church.