Austurvöllur
Grassy civic square laid over a farm's old hayfield, ringed by cafes and watched over by a bronze independence leader.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Austurvöllur, the grassy square at the heart of Reykjavik, starts with what stood here before the park: the finest hayfield in the old town, worked by the farmhands of Víkurbær. As the city grew, masons piled quarried stone here while building the cathedral, and townspeople stripped turf from the field faster than it could recover. By 1806 the town magistrate declared the ground ruined and banned further cutting, along with the dumping of ash and rubbish. Stand on the lawn and picture the stacked quarry stone that once covered it.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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