Shortly before Iceland’s adoption of Christianity around 1000 AD, a stave (wooden) church was built on the Westman Islands by agents of King Olaf of Norway, sent to convert the Icelanders. The original site of the church is lost, but a modern replica, a gift from the Norwegian government, was built in 2000 to mark the millennium of Christianity in Iceland. The church was built in the Skans-area, on lava field that flow in the Heimaey eruption in 1973. Skansinn was originally a fortification built for defence against foreign traders. After the Westman Islands was raided by pirates in 1627, the fortification was manned by armed guards. Landlyst, one of the oldest houses in the Westman Islands, is located at Skansinn. Built in 1848, Landlyst housed Iceland’s first maternity hospital, and is now a medical museum.