Turf Roof Houses and Shed, Skogar, Iceland

by Venetia Featherstone-Witty

Title

Turf Roof Houses and Shed, Skogar, Iceland

Artist

Venetia Featherstone-Witty

Medium

Photograph - Photographs

Description

Sk�gar literally forests, is a small Icelandic village with a population of roughly 25 located at the south of the Eyjafjallaj�kull glacier, in the municipality of Rang�r�ing eystra.

The area is known for its waterfall, Sk�gafoss, on the Sk�g� river, which springs from 60 metres at the top of an eroded cliff. At Sk�gar is a folk museum, Sk�gasafn, open daily, all the year, as well as a museum on transport in Iceland.

Not far from Sk�gar is the Kvernufoss fall. Further upstream on the Sk�g� river there are many other spectacular falls. While climbing in the small forest behind the old school, some ruins of old farms can be seen and easily accessed.

This town was highly affected by the eruption of the Eyjafjalla volcano in 2010.These traditional turf roof houses in Iceland are part of a museum now that showcases the lifestyle of an earlier part of Icelandic history when times were hard before modern conveniences.Icelandic turf houses were the product of a difficult climate, offering superior insulation compared to buildings solely made of wood or stone, and the relative difficulty in obtaining other construction materials in sufficient quantities.

30% of Iceland was forested when it was settled, mostly with birch. Oak was the preferred timber for building Norse halls in Scandinavia, but native birch had to serve as the primary framing material on the remote island. However, Iceland did have a large amount of turf that was suitable for construction. Some structures in Norway had turf roofs, so the notion of using this as a building material was not alien to many settlers.The common Icelandic turf house would have a large foundation made of flat stones; upon this was built a wooden frame which would hold the load of the turf. The turf would then be fitted around the frame in blocks often with a second layer, or in the more fashionable herringbone style. The only external wood would be the doorway which would often be decorative; the doorway would lead in to the hall which would commonly have a great fire. Another interesting aspect of the Icelandic turf house was the introduction of attached toilets, which were communal, and the act of going to the attached toilet was often done in large groups. The floor of a turf house could be covered with wood, stone or earth depending on the purpose of the building. They also contain grass on their roofs.
Icelandic architecture changed in many ways in the more than 1,000 years the turf houses were being constructed. The first evolutionary step happened in the 14th century, when the Viking style longhouses were gradually abandoned and replaced with many small and specialized interconnected buildings. Then in the late 18th century a new style started to gain momentum, the burstabaer, with its wooden ends or gaflar. This is the most commonly depicted version of the Icelandic turf houses and many such survived well into the 20th century. This style was then slowly replaced with the urban building style of wooden house clothed in corrugated iron, which in turn was replaced with the earthquake resistant reinforced concrete building.These houses are now part of a museum in Iceland showing and preserving the homes of people who lived here about a century ago.
FEATURED 9/16/16 in "The World We See"
FEATURED 10/31/16 in "The ABC Group - V is for Verdant"
FEATURED 1/22/16 in "Polar Regions"
FEATURED 5/7/17 in "World Landscape Lovers of Art"
FEATURED 9/25/21 in "Collector's Gallery"
FEATURED 9/26/21 in "Bedroom Art Gallery"
FEATURED 9/27/21 in "Your Very Best Photography"

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September 16th, 2016

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