Buildings

Selfosskirkja, built 1952-56 on the bank of the river Ölfusá. During 1978-84 it was expanded with a tower and congregation center. The tiny white and red house on a mound on the brink contains monitoring equipment for the water level; you'll find these houses on many river banks. Ölfusá is Island's largest river, formed by Hvítá (essentially from Langjökull, through Gullfoss) and Sog (from Þingvallavatn). Selfoss is a town with 6000 inhabitants. The name Sel-foss means 'seal-waterfall'. In the rapids further down the river seals often appear.

Inside the Selfoss church – Selfosskirkja.

A window painting of the Selfoss church. To the left the Icelandic version of the Christian Lord's Prayer ('Our Father').

Þingvallakirkja, the church near the former thingstead Þingvellir has been there for a thousand years, but the present one was built in 1859.

Úthlíðarkirkja on the farm Úthlíð a few kilometers west of Stóri Geysir. The 60 seats church was built in 2005-6 by the farmer Björn Sigurðsson in memory of his wife Ágústa Ólafsdóttir who died in 2004. A former church on this site was destroyed by a storm in 1935.

Stóruborgarkirkja was moved here from a nearby ancient church site, Klausturhólum í Grimsnesi, in 1931. Stora-Borg is found at Rout 35 northwest of Selfoss.

Vikurkirkja, built 1930-34 in Vík í Mýrdal, architect Guðjón Samúelsson. Lupines have started flowering in front of the church – this landscape needs some extra colors. In the event of an eruption of the feared volcano Katla under the glacier Mýrdalsjökull the village with 300 souls may suffer fast and severe flooding (jökulshlaup), but the church site is supposed to be safe.

A 'hússtjórnarskóli' in the great Hallormsstaður forest at the lake Lagarfljót near Egílstaðir. This means a schools for domestic science (home economics). There are 22 students in winter and in summer the building serves as a hotel. (There is another 'hússtjórnarskóli' in Reykjavík.)

The Seyðisfjörður village has about 800 inhabitants. Its light blue church, Seyðisfjarðarkirkja, actually called Bláa kirkja (=the Blue church), was built in 1922. The village is situated nearly as far east at you can get in Iceland. During the last half of the eighteen hundreds many Norwegian fishermen settled here, and they brought timber from Norway to build the timber houses they were used to. Not much of that timber is visible now. The climate makes house owners protect wooden wall by e.g. galvanized corrugated steel plates. And painting them with pleasant colors! A weekly car ferry from Denmark and the Faroe Islands docks here. (Extra pictures on the large picture pages.)

Reykjahlíðarkirkja on the east side of Mývatn was build in 1972. An older church on the same site was spared when an eruption in the Krafla area covered the surrounding village by lava in 1729.



Skútustaðakirkja, built 1861-63 on the south side of the lake Mývatn. If you have seen the rest of my website you may have noticed that one of my favorite objects is churches. In Norway churches hidden among trees are often a problem. Trees are easy to plant, but it's very difficult to obtain a consensus to remove any of them. This might be even more true on this barren island, I just didn't anticipate it. You may note that the leaves of the birches are still small; the spring is very late here this year (date: 2010-06-06).

On the north side of the lake Mývatn, a memorial of three men that drowned in Mývatn 26. October 1999 when laying fiber optic cable. Raised by two telephone and communication companies. In the background Mývatn, the mountains Bláfjall (left) and Sellandafjall.

The Skagafjördur Folk museum on Glaumbær is situated south of Sauðárkrókur, north of Varmahlið on the west side of the wide and shallow Héraðsvötn river valley. It exhibits turf houses from the eighteen hundreds. The houses are thin constructions of wood, heavily insulated with live turf and can last a hundred years if properly constructed.

Glaumbæjarkirkja stands close to the museum. It was built in 1925-26.

View of Akureyri from the east side of the fjord (Eyafjörður). With its more than 17,000 inhabitants, it's the biggest city on North Iceland. It even houses a university.

Akureyrarkirkja, consecrated in 1940, was designed by Guðjón Samúelsson who also designed Hallgrimskirkja in Reykjavík.

A street in Akureyri on a fine day.

An Akureyri souvenir shop. The Polar bear coats are synthetic, but true polar bears are known to have come ashore from ice floes up north. Don't expect to see any of them though, much less be eaten by one.

'Indian Curry Hut' in Akureyri. It struck me that this picture shows three characteristics of Iceland: Small size, bright color paints, and credit cards. (Icelanders are world leaders in the use of credit cards.) A fourth feature might be added: Lots of new expensive cars, but that's probably a temporary one.

Miklabæjarkirkja, the church in Miklibær i Blönduhlið, was built in 1973 when the old church had burnt down. This is also in the Skagafjördur district, it stands close to the Ring Road east of Varmahlið.

This new Reykholtkirkja was consecrated in 1996 and the Snorrastofa Cultural and Medieval Center, the extension to the left, was opened in 2000. This is on the farm where the writer, historian and politician Snorri Sturluson (1178-1241) lived.

The old Reykholtkirkja was built in 1887. It stand right behind the new church and Snorrastofa.



Snorrilaug, Snorri's bath is still kept warm with water from the depth. The lining stones are believed to be the original ones. Behind is the entrance to a passage where Snorri was murdered; this construction is not the original one.

Hallgrímskirkja in Saurbær, built 1957, is named in honor of the great Icelandic poet Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614-1674), which is also the case for the monumental Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík. This smaller church is situated near Reykjavík, on the north side of Hvalfjörður. The main road went past it and around the fjord until a tunnel under the fjord opened in 1998. Hallgrímur was minister in this district for some years.

Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík, named in honor of the great Icelandic poet Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614–1674), designed by Guðjón Samúelsson in 1937 and built during the years 1945–86. It is 74.5 meters high and is visible from most parts of Reykjavík. In front of the church stands a 1930 gift from U.S.A., a statue of Leif Ericsson (c. 970–c. 1020) who sailed from Iceland to discover Vinland¹⁾, later to be called America.

¹⁾ Vinland means 'Pasture-Land'. Those times rich pastures were the most valuable asset for settlers. In Norway this meaning of 'vin' may have disappeared some eight hundred years ago, but it is still a part of about a thousand different old farm names, often somewhat changed though.)

The open space inside Hallgrímskirkja is awesome.

Incidentally, I counted 358 churches and chapels belonging to 'Þjóðkirkju' (the State church) and 10 other churches. That means below 870 Icelanders per church. This is by no means a world record.



The Hallgrímskirkja organ has 5275 pipes. I just wished I had time to wait for a concert (or a mass).

The Höfði house in Reykjavík. It was built in 1909. In 1958 it was purchased by Reykjavík City and has later been used for formal receptions and similar things. Höfði became known to the world in 1986 when Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met there.

Reykjavík is full of splendid new buildings and new cars, indicating a rich nation. But lately there was a serious setback, and many construction sites have come to a standstill. This one is to become Harpa (the Harp), the Icelandic National Concert and Conference Centre (often referred to as the Opera House). It will be delayed, but it will be completed.
Addendum: The opening concert took place 4 May 2011.


This is an Icelandic Krona, just now you would need 158 Kronur to buy a Euro and 124 Kronur to buy a US$




Many Icelanders have left their country lately. This has happened before, but times have always changed to the better. In terms of real values, Iceland is a rich country, so we suppose that our sisters and brothers out west will have a bright future.

updated 2012-01-26