According to Landnámabók, the Book of Settlements, Norseman chieftain Ingólfur Arnarson fled Norway in the 9th century with his wife and brother. When he sighted land, he cast his high seat pillars into the Atlantic and vowed to settle where they washed ashore. Arnarson then established his settlement in 874 and called it Reykjarvík (with an extra “r”) meaning Smoke Cove or Smokey Bay. This sculpture of the city’s founder stands at the top of Arnarhóll Hill. The tribute was created by Einar Jónsson in 1907 and erected in 1924.
