Hallgrímskirkja
Reykjavík's landmark basalt-columned church, with a 74-metre tower open to visitors.
Hallgrímskirkja crowns the Skólavörðuholt hill above central Reykjavík and is the largest church in Iceland. It was designed in 1937 by Guðjón Samúelsson, the state architect, whose stepped, wing-like façade echoes the hexagonal basalt columns formed by cooling lava across the Icelandic landscape. Building work began in 1945 and continued in stages for four decades; the crypt came into use in 1948, the nave in 1974, and the finished church was consecrated in 1986. It is named after the seventeenth-century hymn writer Hallgrímur Pétursson.
The interior is plain and tall, lit by narrow windows, and dominated by a mechanical-action organ built by the German firm Johannes Klais in 1992, with 5,275 pipes and a façade rising more than ten metres. A lift carries visitors most of the way up the 74-metre tower, which gives a view over the coloured roofs of the old town towards Mount Esja and Faxaflói bay. The statue of Leif Erikson on the forecourt was a gift from the United States in 1930.
Highlights
- Lift to the 74-metre tower with panoramic views over Reykjavík
- Basalt-column façade designed by state architect Guðjón Samúelsson
- Klais organ of 5,275 pipes, installed in 1992
- Leif Erikson statue on the forecourt, a 1930 gift from the United States
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