The oldest part of Reykjavik lies east of Austurvöllur in an area called
Grjótaþorp. Its outer edges are Aðalstræti, Vesturgata, Garðastræti and Túngata. One of the five first homes to be built there was on the corner of Garðastræti and Grjótagata (also Túngata and Garðastræti). The house was called Helgabær or Helgi's Home. It was named after Helgi Eyjólfsson, the man who built it around the year 1830 (according to Klemens Jónsson, it was built in 1847).
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Overview
over Reykjavik's oldest area, Grjótaþorp in 1930. The nearest corner is
the intersection between Túngata and Garðastræti, which is where
Helgabær is located. The photo on the right is zoomed in on Grjótagata 11, which used to be Helgabær.
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Some time later,
Jón (Jónsson) Borgfirðingur
moved into the house with his family. He was a scholar, an author and
a police officer. He was hired by the the British Museum in London, England
to write a list of all the books ever to be printed in Reykjavik and Akureyri. He
quickly became the go-to guy for foreign scholars who were interested in
Icelandic books. He later became the British Museum's ombudsman and
acquired many Icelandic books for them. Jón had several children, among
them was
Finnur Jónsson,
a philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of
Copenhagen and made invaluable contributions to the study of Old
Norse Literature. Another of his sons was
Klemens Jónsson. He was an attorney, a sheriff, a politician, a man of the althing, a Minister and an author.
Around
the turn of the century, Helgabær was torn down and the famous poet,
Einar Benediktsson (mentioned in my blog
here) purchased it and sold it to
Dr. Þórður Thoroddsen,
known for writing the fundamental assessments on influenza and the
Spanish flu in 1919. He had a bigger house built for himself and his
family. His wife,
Anna Lovísa Pétursdóttir planted beautiful trees in their garden.
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Photo taken from the Catholic Church. Helgabær is the white house to the left of center. The road going down the center of the photograph is Túngata. In the center of the photo is the corner where the Víkur church and cemetery used to be. This is also where Túngata merges with Aðalstræti.
Ljósmyndasafn Reykjavíkur
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After
Helgabær was torn down, Dr. Thoroddsen had a bigger house built. Here it is in 1951.
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The nature conservation committee was very concerned about preserving this garden and contacted the owner of the house. He wasn't concerned about the garden and told them as long as they were able to remove the trees, they could do so. On the other hand, if they couldn't the trees would be torn down with the house.
Reykjavik's horticulture director, Hafliði Jónsson, was asked to come to take a look at the trees to see if they could be moved. Upon a closer look, he saw that it was impossible to move them without damaging them. Instead, he suggested they trim the trees and have them added to the nature protection laws. The trees needed to be protected, he felt they were some of the most beautiful and oldest trees in the city. Unfortunately, the trees were not preserved.
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Helgabær in center left. The large trees planted by Anna, the doctor's wife, as seen in this photo are no longer there.
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After they tore down the doctor's house, they made the lot into a
playground. A little later, they moved the house that was located on
Tjarnargata 3c to the same spot the previous house had stood. This was
originally the house of the devout spiritist, playwright and scholar,
Indriði Einarsson. You can read about him in my blog
here. He lived in the house when it was on Tjarnargata 3c with his family. This is also where
Indriði Indriðason (who later became a medium) lived with them. You can read about him in my blogs
here. Indriði Einarsson was also Eufemía's father from my previous
blog.
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Left: This
is the corner where Kirkjustræti meets Aðalstræti and Túngata. To the
left is where Víkur cemetery and the flower garden used to be. The
photo was taken in 1920. If you look closely, to the center left, there
is a small house with a slanted roof. That was Indriði Einarsson's house,
the one that is now where Helgabær used to be.
Source. Right: A screenshot of Google Maps. This is the
exact same corner as the picture next to it. A tree is blocking the view, but if you could see
through it, you would be able to see where Indriði's house used to be. Today it is just an empty lot.
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A close up of the house on Tjarnargata 3c.
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The
house on the lot today is the house that once stood on Tjarnargata 3c,
the house that used to be the home of the spiritst, author and
playwright, Indriði
Einarsson. The house now has the address Grjótagata 11.
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When Guðmundur was 12, he was staying at a very filthy
farm with lots of dogs running around. During his time on the farm, he
became severely ill and almost lost his life. He had contracted hydatid
disease (ecchinococcosis)
which is caused by being infected with tapeworm eggs.
This is not a
short term illness as the larva can live in your body for years. He most
likely became infected from the dogs on the farm. The tapeworm eggs can
be found in dog poop. This happens when the dogs eat
parasite-infected organ meat. When the hygiene is poor, the eggs can
transfer to humans and take hold inside the intestines.
Unfortunately,
the stomach acid does not kill the eggs, instead the eggs hatch in the
stomach juices. Once hatched, the larva burrows its way out of the
intestines and into the bloodstream. Once in the blood stream it has
access to the rest of the organs and in most cases, and in Guðmundur's
case, it found its way
to the liver where it continued to develop.
Once the worm has found an
organ, it forms fluid filled cysts. When this happens, the patient most
often needs surgery and medication to be treated. The medication given
(albendazole) may be needed for years afterwards. Even today this
disease can result in death.
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Helgabær as it looked in 1869.
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Image
of how Grjótaþorp looked in 1886. The large red house is Vinaminni on
Mjóstræti 3. You may recognize it from one of my previous blogs
here. Upper left shows Helgabær.
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Photo from 1885. Here is Helgabær zoomed in from the direction of Hólavalla cemetery. It is the farm in the center, slightly to the left.
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Helgabær has been torn down and a bigger house built. Photo from 1959.
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The engravings on the statue written by the Latvian poet, Janis Rainis:
"From the people of Latvia to the people of Iceland. For the
recognition of indepencence." and "We are a small nation. We shall be as
great as is our will." Rainis |
The doctor had written his doctoral thesis on hydatid
disease and he had also written several articles in the newspaper about it. He was
as knowledgeable as he possibly could be when it came to tapeworm. He
could tell that Guðmundur's case had reached the point of death and saw
no other option than to operate on him the following day.
That same night Guðmundur dreamt of a woman he had never seen
before. She was beautiful, but manly. The woman came to him and told him
that if they do the operation tomorrow, he would die. She explained
that the current medical practice wasn't advanced enough to fix what was
wrong with him. She seemed to already know the operation wasn't going
to happen, because she told Guðmundur that his time wasn't up yet.
The woman told Guðmundur to come with her and look at her garden. She wanted to
show him some of her herbs and led him to a garden filled with
all sorts of plants and herbs. Guðmundur recognized some of them. The
woman pointed at an herb and asked Guðmundur if he recognized it. He
recognized the herb to be northern dock (heimulunjóli).
The woman told him to take its roots and boil them until he had enough
broth for three full flasks. She explained that he was to drink the
broth and after drinking two flasks the cysts would start to disappear.
Since he already had so many cysts, he would have to finish drinking the
third bottle within ten days in order for the cysts to be completely
gone. Then she warned him that he would be suffering immense chest pains,
but she had a remedy for that as well.
The woman then asked him if he
recognized another herb and pointed at
hops. Guðmundur did not recognize it. She explained to him it was from an herb called
Humulus lupulus.
Then she told him to boil it and drink the broth, because it had
healing effects and would make him better. Then the woman disappeared
and he
never saw her again.
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Hops are the flower parts of Humulus lupus, which is an hemp herb.
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When Guðmundur woke up he told his mom about his dream. She was a
big
believer in dreams and was happy to hear that he had had such a
revelatory
dream. She urged him to do exactly what the dream told him to do,
believing it
would truly heal him. Guðmundur dug up some northern dock with the
roots. Then they were boiled until the broth filled three flasks. He
then drank the broth as directed by the woman in his dream.
After ten days he had drank all three flasks. Just like the woman had
told him, he was experiencing severe chest pains. The pain was so bad
his whole body was shaking. He continued following the woman's
directions and boiled the hops. They then poured off the broth for him
to
drink. Just like the woman said in the dream, after he had drank the
hop broth, the pain went away. A month later, Guðmundur was in full
health.
In
1922, when Guðmundur lived in Árnastaðir in Seyðisfjörður with his
family, he shared this story and added that he had not since been sick
with this parasite. This had been very fortunate for him because due to
life in poverty, he had been dependent on his good health. He had many
children and a wife to proved for. This had forced him to work heavy and
unhealthy jobs. He gives the woman in his dream credit for his
unfailing health.
Sources:
Cover photo
Jón Borgfirðingur
Finnur Jónsson
Guðmundur Jónsson
The dream
Echinococcosis
Photo of cysts
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