Húsavík Church
Protected wooden church of 1907 above Húsavík harbour, with a 26-metre steeple and painted interior.
Húsavík Church stands on rising ground above the harbour and is among the best known timber churches in Iceland. It was designed by Rögnvaldur Ólafsson, the first Icelander to train formally as an architect, and consecrated in 1907. The plan is cruciform and the elevations follow the Swiss chalet manner then fashionable in Nordic timber building, with bargeboards, shallow gables and a slender steeple rising to about twenty-six metres. The timber was imported from Norway, since Iceland had almost no building wood of its own.
Inside, the church is unusual in having no conventional raised pulpit, so the eye is drawn straight to the chancel. The altarpiece, painted by Sveinn Þórarinsson, departs from convention by showing the raising of Lazarus rather than a scene from the Passion, and sets the episode in an Icelandic landscape. A pipe organ was inaugurated in 1964. The building is a protected monument and remains the parish church of Húsavík, serving the town as well as visitors who come for whale watching.
Highlights
- Cruciform timber church of 1907 in Swiss chalet style
- Steeple rising about 26 metres above the harbour
- Altarpiece of the raising of Lazarus by Sveinn Þórarinsson
- Interior without a conventional raised pulpit
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