I visited Hallgrimskirkja church in Reykjavik back in 2006 while I was traveling in Iceland. It is a Protestant Lutheran church with Expressionist Neo-Gothic style, known for its distinctively curved spire and side wings. At 74.5 meters tall, it is the largest church in Iceland and second tallest structure in the country (after the Smaratorg Tower in Kopavogur town). It is named after the Icelandic sacret poet and cleric Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614–1674). He is known for the “Hymns of the Passion”, a series of 50 meditations on the martyrdom of Christ, written in 1656-59. The poems are generally considered to be classic in Icelandic literature. Verses of the poems have accompanied Icelanders for more than three centuries.
In front of the church there is the statue of Viking explorer Leif Erikson (970 – 1020AD) by Alexander Stirling Calder. It predates the church and it was a gift from the United States in honor of the 1930 Althing Millennial Festival, commemorating the 1000th anniversary of the convening of Iceland’s parliament at Þingvellir in 930 AD. Leif Erikson, also known as Leif the Lucky, was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental America, approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus. His father, Erik the Red, founded the first Norse settlement in Greenland, where Leif was later raised.
Situated on the hilltop Skolavorduholt near the centre of Reykjavík, the church is one of the city’s best-known landmarks. State Architect Guðjón Samúelsson said to have designed it to resemble the trap rocks, mountains and glaciers of Iceland’s landscape, in particular its columnar basalt formations. It took 41 years to build the church, construction began in 1945 and ended in 1986. The church is also used as an observation tower, with a lift providing access to the viewing deck with views of Reykjavík and the surrounding mountains. It costed 300isk to go up the observation tower (price of 2006) but unfortunately at the time of my visit the lift was out of order so I couldn’t go up.
With an interior of 1.676 square meters humans look small in the photos. I was surprised to find church icons very similar to the Greek churches, they even had Greek inscriptions on! Services are at 11 am every Sunday and on religious holidays throughout the year. Morning service is every Wednesday.
An interesting feature inside the church is its large pipe organ by the German organ builder Johannes Klais. It has electronic action, the pipes are remote from the four manuals and pedal console. With 102 ranks, 72 stops and 5275 pipes, it is 15 meters tall and weighs 25 tons! Unfortunately there was no service at the time of my visit so I didn’t manage to hear its sound.
Einar Jonsson (1874-1954), an Icelandic sculptor, donated the statue of Jesus to the church in 1948, which stands right next to the entrance to the nave. Jesus receives the Holy Spirit after being baptized in the Jordan.
Additional information
GPS coordinates for places in this post, click on them to be redirected to the exact point in google maps Click on the names to be redirected to their official websites (if applicable).
Hallgrimskirkja church: 64°08’30.2″N 21°55’36.0″W
Click below to read the connected previous and next post:
Click on the categories at the top or at the tags below for more posts!
