Famous Landmarks in Reykjavik
A small stone-and-wood capital under one soaring 20th-century church spire.
Reykjavik's older landmarks share a similar scale and setting. The Parliament House, a plain classical structure raised from hewn Icelandic dolerite between 1880 and 1881, stands at Austurvöllur square beside Reykjavík Cathedral, the parish church of the old city centre, completed in 1796 as the seat of the Bishop of Iceland. On Lækjargata, the stately Government House began in 1771 as the country's first penitentiary before its conversion into a seat of public administration. All three are modest, low buildings dating from when the settlement was still a small trading town. Hallgrímskirkja breaks that pattern: not finished until 1986, its curved Gothic Revival and expressionist spire rises 74.5 metres, making it the largest church and second-tallest building in the country, a single monumental structure rising over an otherwise low-built old town.
Hallgrimskirkja
1986 · Guðjón Samúelsson
A curved spire flanked by stepped side wings gives it a silhouette unlike a conventional church; at 74.5 metres it is the country's largest church and its second-tallest building of any kind.
Hallgrímskirkja is a Lutheran parish church of the Church of Iceland, standing 74.5 metres tall — the largest church in the country and its second-tallest building overall. Its curved spire and stepped side wings were designed by Guðjón Samúelsson, who died in 1950, decades before the building was finished in 1986. It commemorates the poet and cleric Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614–1674), author of the Passion Hymns, after whom it is named.
- The architect who designed its curved spire, Guðjón Samúelsson, died in 1950, thirty-six years before the church was finished.
Photo: Photograph: Guðmundur D. Haraldsson. Building: Guðjón Samúelsson (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Reykjavik Cathedral
1796
A modest historicist-style building on the old city centre's main square, distinguished less by scale than by standing immediately beside the country's parliament house.
Reykjavík Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Iceland and mother church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, as well as the parish church of the old city centre. Built in the historicist style, it stands at Austurvöllur square immediately beside the parliament house and was completed in 1796. Since the Alþingi was resurrected in 1845, every parliamentary session has opened with a Mass here, after which the dean has led members of parliament next door to begin their business.
Photo: APK (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Parliament House
1880–1881 · Ferdinand Meldahl
Built from massive blocks of hewn dark dolerite in a plain classical style, its facade carries four tympanum reliefs above the first-floor windows depicting a dragon, a vulture, a giant and a bull.
Alþingishúsið, a classical structure built from hewn Icelandic dolerite, was designed by Ferdinand Meldahl and raised between 1880 and 1881 to house Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament. Reliefs above its first-floor windows depict four legendary guardian spirits of the land. Over the following century the building also served at various times as the national library, an antiquities collection, an art gallery and university lecture rooms, and the president kept offices there until 1973. Today only the debating chamber and a handful of offices remain in use, with a new annex planned nearby.
- The four window reliefs on the ground floor depict guardian spirits of the land, said in legend to have been calmed by Ingólfur Arnarson, Iceland's first settler, when he arrived.
- The building has also served over the years as the national library, an art gallery and early university lecture rooms, and the president kept offices there until 1973.
Photo: APK (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Government House
1771
A plain stately home on Lækjargata whose modest domestic appearance gives no outward sign of its past as a penitentiary or its present role as the seat of executive government.
Stjórnarráðshúsið is a stately home on Lækjargata in Reykjavík, built in 1771 as Iceland's first penitentiary. Its purpose changed entirely over time: from a place of confinement it became a seat of public administration, and today it houses the Prime Minister's Office. The building predates Reykjavik's formal charter as a trading town in 1786 by fifteen years, making it one of the oldest surviving structures from before the town's official founding.
Photo: APK (CC BY-SA 4.0)
History
According to Landnámabók, Ingólfur Arnarson settled here in 874, but no town grew from that landing for nine hundred years: Reykjavik was chartered only in 1786 as a trading post. Its oldest surviving landmark predates even that charter — the building later known as Government House went up in 1771 as Iceland's first penitentiary, before being converted to house executive administration. Reykjavík Cathedral followed in 1796, serving the young town's parish and later, after the Alþingi was revived in 1845, opening each session of parliament with a Mass. The parliament itself did not get a permanent home until 1880–1881, when hewn dolerite formed the classical Alþingishúsið beside the cathedral. Over a century later, Hallgrímskirkja added an entirely different kind of landmark: a soaring church spire, finished in 1986, that has since stood as a symbol of national identity.