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The
Post and Telecommunications Administration decided to erect a memorial
of the rural postmen at Stadur on the Hrutafiord Bay and it was unveiled
on May 13th 1993. Stadur
was the largest rural mail centre in Iceland for a long period of time.
No less than six postmen were arrived at Stadur on the 15th
of every month of the year. The
mail services consisted of the Southern mail, the Akureyri mail, the
Stykkisholmur mail, the Kroksfjardarnes mail, the Strandir mail and the
Nupsdalstunga mail.
Regulations
relating to postal communications in Iceland were issued in 1776, but
postal communications between North and South Iceland did not commence
until seven years later. Both
Stadur and Melar on the Hrutafiord Bay are old postal delivery stations.
Letter collection occurred at Melar as of 1873 until 1875, when
it became a mail delivery post and remained so until 1879, when it was
moved to Stadur. Postal
delivery remained there until 1951 and thereafter letter collection for
many years. The farmers at
Stadur initiated the erection of the memorial to the overland postal
service of bygone year.
The
memorial is the work of the sculptor Grimur Marino Steindorsson.
It consists of a 3,5 m high steel column branching off at the top
into three prongs. The
pillar has a bas-relief of a mounted man leading a packhorse.
The Machine Shop Orri made it and the Stone Masonry was made by
S. Helgason. |