Flatey is the second largest island in Breiðafjörður, located in northwestern Iceland that consists of the main island and forty other smaller islands. It is believed that it was created during Ice age from a great glacier. Flatey is two kilometers long and one kilometer wide. The island is almost completely flat.

The island has a seasonal habitation; most houses there are occupied only during summer. In spite of this, Flatey was one of the greatest cultural centres of Iceland, with a no-longer existing monastery founded in 1172 standing on the highest point of the island, not far from the new monastery. In the middle of the 19th century, it was a cultural and artistic reference in Iceland, and was massively inhabited.