Bárður Snæfellsás Monument

The monument stands on the grassy clifftop above Arnarstapi harbour, on the south coast of Snæfellsnes. Sculptor Ragnar Kjartansson built it from dark local basalt in 1985: some six metres tall, with head, shoulders and a stare out to sea. It depicts Bárður Snæfellsás, a being from the sagas, part human and part troll. He is said to have withdrawn into the Snæfellsjökull glacier and watched over the peninsula ever since. The cliff path to Hellnar starts here.