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Photo: Christoph Strässler from Oberdorf BL, Schweiz, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
A cave, a lava tube 1½ km in length. Archaeological research in the 2000s shows evidence for Viking Age ritual activities, from before Iceland's conversion to Christianity. The cave is named after the fire giant Surtr, who might have lived here. He left long ago as parts of the cave have floor and speleothems of ice, but there may still be ghosts.
Surtshellir is a lava cave located in western Iceland, around 60 km from the settlement of Borgarnes. Approximately a mile in length, it is one of the longest such caves in the country. It was the first known lava tube in the world, at least by modern speleologists, and remained the longest known lava tube until the end of the 19th century. While mentioned in the medieval historical-geographical work Landnámabók, Eggert Ólafsson was the first to give a thorough documentation of the cave in his 1750 travels of the region. It is named after the fire giant Surtr, a prominent figure in Norse mythology, who is prophesied to one day engulf the world in the fire of his flaming sword.
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A media centre showcasing the Viking sagas, stories or descriptions of their everyday life.