Munkurin is the southernmost point of the Faroe Islands. Munkurin is an 11-metre-high rock, also known as Sumbiarsteinur. Munkur means "

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

". The rock is one of a group of skerries called Flesjarnar, 5 km south of the island of Suðuroy in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

. The sound between Flesjarnar and Suðuroy is notorious for its strong current.

Flesjarnar

Flesjarnar are a group of rocks, located 5 km south of Akraberg in Suðuroy. The rocks are: * Sumbiarfles, 4 metres high (nearest to land) * Miðjufles, 4 metres high (the word miðju means in the middle) * Bøllufles, 6 metres high (two rocks) * Stórafles, 7 metres high (Stóra means large) * Munkurin or Sumbiarsteinur, 11 metres high

Munkurin

The rocks are close together except for Munkurin, which is a little further away, which is possibly why it is called the

Monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

. Two sources mention another reason for the name Munkurin, referring to before the

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

collapsed. The article tells about the observations of Pastor Jørgen Landt, written in 1800, that when seen from the land, the rock island presented the appearance of a monk with a red neck and a dark grey body and head, and from the sea, it looked like a ship under full sails. Another source, that of Olaus Magnus's ''Histora de Gentibus Septentrionalibus'', states that the rock appeared to wear a hood over its "head," similar to that of a monk, as well as the fact that it provides safe refuge for those caught in a storm. The article mentions that the monk was 70 feet (21 metres) high. Wikisource.org, Popular Science Monthly, Volume 30. Munkurin is now 11 metres high, but it used to be higher. It collapsed in 1884-85. Before it collapsed, the northern gannet (''Morus bassanus'') used to nest there, but since it collapsed, the birds don't nest there anymore; they nest in Mykineshólmur. It happens sometimes that the rock looks white from the land, and that is because there are many northern gannets sitting there.

Literature in German and Danish

*Lucas Jacobson Debes: ''Natürliche und Politische Historie der Inseln Färöe''. The German book is translated from Danish. Writer: C. G. Mengel, Copenhagen / Leipzig, 1757.

References

* A Map of the Faroe Islands * Also based on the German version of Wikipedia.

External links

Visitsuduroy.fo

Photos on Flickr related to Munkurin
Islets of the Faroe Islands Uninhabited islands of the Faroe Islands Stacks of the Faroe Islands {{Faroes-geo-stub

Flesjarnar

Munkurin

Literature in German and Danish

See also

References

External links