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Keldur

Les noms des biens figurent dans la langue dans laquelle les Etats parties les ont soumis.

Islande (Europe et Amérique du nord)

Date de soumission : 18/12/2001
Critères: (iii)(iv)
Catégorie : Culturel
Soumission préparée par :
Menntamalaraduneytid. Ministry of Education, Science and Culture
Coordonnées
Rangárvallahreppur, Arnessyla, South Iceland
Ref.: 1607

Description

In Keldur one can find beautiful nature, a historical site, archaeological remains of residence, as well as an important part of Iceland's architectural heritage. The old turf farm of Keldur is specially important because there are numerous buildings from past centuries that together form a complex, and give us an insight into the old Icelandic farming community.



There are over 20 houses preserved at Keldur, beside the main farmhouse, or hall, there are storehouses, a smithy, a water-mill, a cowshed, a stable, a sheep-pen etc. Halls (or skall) were the main living area/houses in the Middle Ages, and had been since earliest settlement. The hall at Keldur is the next phase after the Viking Age hall and it is the only one of its kind that has been preserved. In an archaeological excavation in the summer of 1998, an underground tunnel directly linked with the ancient hall was uncovered. It was probably built as a means of escape, if the farm was attacked. The tunnel is probably from the 12th or 13th century. The Icelandic Sagas mention a tunnel of this type and call it "jarðhus" The tunnel at Keldur is the only known example of this.



The farm is not only an attraction for tourists travelling in the south part of Iceland, it is also an important source for scholars studying the evolution of farm-building and life in the old farming society.



To the north, the volcano, Hekla, towers majestically and the land north of the farm is a desert of lava and black sands. The sand is a constant threat to the settlement, and now there is a desert where there used to be prosperous farms. It is almost a miracle how the farmers at Keldur managed to keep the farm habitable in the last years of the 19th century, when the fight with the sand was at its peak. The big stone walls that hinder desert-creep stand now as a monument to all the effort put into fighting the encroaching desert.



Besides the many remains mentioned before, there are remains of 16-18 farms on the vast land of Keldur, e.g. the settlement farms, Sandgil and Tröllaskógur, which figure in the Njals Saga. South of the farm, in the home-field, the remains of the croft, Króktún are visible.



Keldur is a known historical site. Written sources mentioning the farm are numerous, including many medieval ones.



Skúli Guðmundsson was the last person to live in the old farmhouse, he lived there until his death in 1946. He must have realised at an early age that the old farmhouses had an exceptional cultural value. He collected a vast body of knowledge on the various farmhouses and their history. Personally, he kept a diary that he called "Smaesta sm6tt," discussing the repairs and other activities in all the buildings at Keldur. The diary goes back to his father's days at the farm and spans the period between around 1850 - 1940. His work has been a valuable asset when various houses have needed restoration.