Reykjavik is Iceland’s capital, the most northern capital; it is located on the Bay of Faxafloi, there is a beautiful coast line, along which two of the most iconic landmarks of Reykjavik are visible:
The Solfarid or the Sun Voyager Sculpture, beautiful in day light as well as at night. It was ordered to celebrate the 200 years anniversary of Reykjavik (which is actually older than that). Designed by Jon Gunnar Arnason and made in stainless steel and stands on a granite base; it was put in place in 1990. It is supposed to be a dream boat, an ode to the sun to represent ‘the promise of undiscovered territory of hope, progress and freedom’.
Also very iconic is the Hallgrims Church made in concrete, designed to resemble an Icelandic volcano, it dominates the skyline when you look out from the terrace at Perlan. It took half a century to finish the building as it was undertaken by a one-man’s firm with the help of his son, only.
The height of the tower is 74 meters; there has apparently been a lot of discussions among Icelanders about the ugliness of the church. I find it beautiful and overwhelming at the same time. Various critics have called it unbelievably strange while others have pronounced it one of the must beautiful houses of worship in the world.
That it Art, it should provoke a discussion about its value.
There is a clock at the top of the tower, but the time it shows is probably incorrect because as a rule the wind is so strong the hands of the clock are blown out of position or more likely to have blown off completely.
In front of the Hallgrims Church stands a sculpture donated to Iceland from the USA in 1930 to celebrate a millennium since the establishment if the first parliament in the world and still very much active. The statue is of Leifur Erikson’s, he discovered America, Vinland, half a millennium before Columbus did. The statue weighs 50 tons. The statue seems to have helped settle a dispute: was Leifur, Icelandic or Norwegian? He had lived many years in Greenland, so he should probably be called Greenlandic, i.e. Danish! The statue was put in place in 1932 and later the church was built behind it.
The meaning of ‘Reykjavik’ is ‘the Smokey Bay’, referring to the steaming of water from the hot underground and that was how the first Viking, Ingolfur Arnason and his wife, who settled here in 874; he had fled Norway after having killed a man.
Harpan, the Concert Hall
Today Reykjavik is the capital of The Republic of Iceland. Iceland from point of view of land size is more than 20% larger than Israel accounting for an area of 21,937 km2, but the population is much smaller only 370,000 people, of whom about 85% live in the area around Reykjavik and its metropolis.
Reykjavik has a feel of being a smaller merchants' town, it is very colorful, very nice:
Höfdi House, Originally the French consulate; Winston Churchill stayed here in 1941. More recently known for where the meeting between Ronald Regan and Russia’s Mikhail Gorbachev took place and ended the cold war. It is said to be hunted, but not clear to me by whom and why.
Some history of Iceland:
The world’s first and still active parliament, Alting, was established 930 in Iceland as a way for the Norse family clans to govern Iceland in the Viking fashion of Scandinavia as an independent territory. But family fighting and disagreements, as can be read about in the Icelandic Sagas, lead in 1262 to agreeing to be ruled by the Norwegian king.
From 1397 to 1523 the Scandinavian countries established the Kalmar Union against the German cities of the Hansa, initially under the Danish queen Margarethe 1, but over time it broke down although efforts were made, meaning wars were fought, to re-establish it without much success. In 1524 a personal union between Denmark and Norway was established which meant that Iceland as an appendix to Norway, came under Danish rule; it was decreed that Icelanders could only trade with the Danish. In 1786 Reykjavik became the administrative center for the Danish rulers.
In 1814 the union between Norway and Denmark broke down and at the Treaty of Kiel Norway became Swedish, while Iceland became a ‘legal Danish Colony’. In 1918 a personal union was established between Iceland and the Danish King with Iceland as an independent and sovereign state. During the 2nd World War Iceland was invaded first by the British but was replaced by the still neutral USA; and in 1944 after a referendum Iceland decided to become an independent republic separate from the Danish king.
During the 1960’s and 1970’s Iceland fought fishing rights, the Cod wars, against England and won with a 200 nautical mile exclusive zone, and that has since become the international standard under the UN Convention the Law of the Sea.
Although being a small nation Iceland has a huge literary and cultural heritage in their Sagas written since the early settlement of Iceland by the Icelanders themselves and in their own language, told and retold for generations. Travelers from the 13th and 14th century marveled at the fact that everybody in Iceland men and women could read and write. Today Iceland has more authors per capita than any other nation; Halldor Laxness (1902-1998) won the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature ‘for his vivid epic power, which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland’.
This unique cultural heritage is celebrated also today as the Icelandic Saga’s are listed since 2009 on the UNESCO Memory World Registry; and since 2011 Reykjavik has been proclaimed as a literary world capital.
We wandered around Reykjavik and enjoyed a colorful town which feels more like a little village of few tall houses, people keep their legs on the ground. Many tourists even in February, many restaurants.
Coming to Iceland in February, you really get to feel how much this country is dependent on the moods of the weather: cold, rain, snow ice as negative sides, but then Nature and the Northern Light make you forget and forgive all the negative because of the uniqueness and beauty of the latter.
Everyone visiting Iceland should have a nice swim in a lagoon, in the past we went to Blue Lagoon, but is far from the town, Sky Lagoon was closer and very nice.
Another thing we noticed was a large number of statues on the streets throughout Reykjavik; it is not always clear who made them, but it adds an easy often fun mood and atmosphere to the face of the town, so enjoy with me:
All together it was a memorable trip.
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