Voyage North - a photo essay: (20) Hallgrímskirkja

The Hallgrímskirkja (Church of Hallgrímur) is the Lutheran (Church of Iceland) parish church of Reykjavik. It's the largest church in Iceland, and named after the seventeenth century poet and clergyman Halgrímur Pétursson. It was commissioned in 1937 and the architect, Guðjón Samúelsson, was the same as the one who designed the church in Akureyri.  It dominates the skyline of the city:

It is described as 'gothic with local references'. On the outside, the shapes of flowing lava and basalt columns are obvious.

The statue is of Leifur Eiríksson, a 10th century Norse explorer, the son of Eric the Red, the founder of the first Norse settlement in Iceland. The Norse settlers and the Lutheran Church are the two major historical foundations of Iceland - here, with the statue and the church, they appear to be given equal billing!

Leifur sailed west from Iceland via Greenland and settled for a short time on the American mainland (ca.1000 CE), at a place he named Vinland (because grapevines grew there). The location of Vinland is now thought to be at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.

The statue was given to Iceland by the USA, in 1930, to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the ancient Icelandic parliament. It was designed by American sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder.



















The 'local references' can also be seen clearly inside the building, with the structural echoes of Viking boat hulls:

And in items within the church we see other influences: the references to ice in the design of the font, and the sculpture of an abstract version of a Viking longship. The sculptor of the ship is Sigurjón Ólafsson.

In the summer in Iceland, the sun makes almost 90% of a whole circle in 24 hours and the design of the church maximises the effects of the shifting sunlight: