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Skrúður

Skrúður is a vegetable garden on the shore of one of the Westfjords of Iceland, close to the Arctic Circle and holds an important place in the Icelandic history of gardening. Laid out on an incline facing south-west towards the Dýrafjörður inlet, it is backed by a grim chain of glacier-eroded mountains.

The garden opened in August 1909 and is the brain-child of the priest Sigtryggur Guðlaugsson (1862-1959) who, with his brother Kristinn, had started a school at Núpur a few years earlier. Vegetation in the garden grew and flourished through the 1980’s, but after that time the garden’s attention decreased. In 1992, a group of people decided to restore the garden and in 1996 they formally opened the garden again. The formal aim of the garden is to serve as a memorial and to be used for education purposes on for the public schools. The garden is also an example of successful horticulture in such northern climates, and as such a notable part of the country’s horticulture history. In 2013 Skrúður won the International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens, awarded by the Benetton Foundation since 1990, possibly the world’s only prize awarded to locations.