For 95 years people lived in this beautiful turf house – (from 1843 to 1943) when the last people moved out. From 1840 until 1862 sixteen turf houses were built on the heath. Now only the rebuilt Sænautasel is remaining.
Snænautasel is one of the homes, which had to be vacated when Askja caldera erupted back in 1875. It was not until 5 years later that people moved back into Sænautasel turf house. Since then it has been rebuilt a couple of times.
In 1992 Sænautasel was rebuilt from scratch and is now a museum.