First settlers

 A statue of Helgi magri (Helgi the lean)
and Þórunn hyrna (Þórunn the horned), the first settlers of the
area, about the year 890, stands on the Hamarkot Rocks on the street
Brekkugata near the police station. 

The story tells that the parents of
Helgi handed him over for fostering into the Hebrides, and when they came there
two winters afterwards, he was so starved that they did not know him; they
brought him away with them and called him Helgi the lean. He was brought up in
Ireland, and when he was grown up, he married Þórunn hyrna (Þórunn the horned).
They moved to Iceland with their children and settled the whole of Eyjafjörður.
Helgi magri handed out parts of the settlement, which was very big, to his
children and kin but selected and built his own farm at a site which he
named Kristnes (Christ Cape) some 12 km south of Akureyri, a place where he
dwelt during the remainder of his life. Helgi believed in Christ and therefore
gave this name to his dwelling.

Þórunn hyrna, was the
daughter of Ketill flatnefur. Ketill Björnsson, nicknamed Flatnose (Flatnefur), who
was a chieftain of the Isles of the 9th century. All his children
settled big parts of Iceland, Þórunn hyrna in Eyjafjörður, Auður djúpúðga, at Hvammur in West-Iceland.
Her brother, Helgi bjóla, settled Kjalarnes and her other brother, Björn
austræni, settled Snæfellsnes and lived in Bjarnarhöfn.


The statue, which was made by Jónas S. Jakobsson in 1956, is located on top of
Hamarkotsklappir behind the Police station (Lögreglustöðin). About 5-10
min. walk from town center. 

Two prominent streets in Akureyri are
named after these settlers - Helgamagrastræti street and Þórunnarstræti street
and the kindergarten Hólmasól is named after Helgi and Þórunn first child
(daughter) Next to the statue, one can find an old view-dial. On the view-dial is
written 1949 - Ferðafélag Akureyrar, but these view-dials show the names of the
surrounding mountains.