From the tower of Hallgrímskirkja
The Icelandic churches are unique. They lack the pompous look of many churches of classic Europe. They are relatively small, modern and somewhat humble. It is noticeable that they were build in order not intrude the nature around them. The only exception is Hallgrímskirkja, the main cathedral of Reykjavik and the second tallest building in Iceland. It points at the skies like a huge finger, in an attempt that looks like the Icelandic version of the tower of Babylon.
I collected some of the churches of the greater Reykjavik area in one slide show.
For detailed view visit my Flickr album.
19 comments:
Wow , Iceland has some cool looking churches.
Your pics are beautiful.
It's weird how you read my mind on some opinions in your posts! I've often wondered why the Icelanders put all their architectural efforts into churches, even though they're not very religious people. I just had the luxury of spending 2 weeks in mainland Europe and I was so enamored with the old buildings and old stone streets that it made me a bit sad to come back to the depressing apartment buildings in Iceland ;')
I do have to say that a lot of apartment buildings in Iceland resemble the old Soviet style blocks in former East Berlin. When I would see a dilapidated stone building with ugly balconies, the word "Breiðholt" popped into my head. But however ugly Icelandic buildings appear on the outside, they're quite lovely on the inside. (Thank you IKEA & other Danish design stores!)
P.S. While you think Hallgrimskirkja looks like a finger, I've often joked that it's a phallic symbol in dedication to Iceland's high birthrates (I have a dirty mind, I know~)
Talking about reading minds. I don´t know how many times I was thinking to myself "this place looks like the Soviet Union". It happened to me not only when I see the 'train' looking buildings but also with the miserable grocery stores in towns outside Reykjavik.
Based on what you think about Iceland (we already agreed I can read your mind) and based on what you said here and in you blog, I wanted to ask you. I chose to quote your blog "I live in Iceland. Why? Good question. Let me get back to you on that." Please, get back to me on that.
You've captured just the right sky for each of those church's profiles. Very beautiful work. If you're not doing that for money, maybe you should.
I looked again. My two favorites are the yellow church with the black roofs and the stern gray sky and the synagogue with the sunset shining in the windows. Is that sunset at 10:15?
I call it a synagogue, but it has a crucifix on a steeple. What's going on there?
Fred, I'm willing to get paid for blogging. When was the last time you paid for content online?
About the synagogue looking church. Some churches use the star of David as decoration.
There are no synagogues in Iceland.
The images you post make me want to move to Iceland. But I have to know, are the people there mostly skinny or fat?
Do you expect me to admit the content I've paid for discreetly with a credit card? ;)
Seriously, there aren't very many advertisers on blogger or facebook. I don't see how they pay their server bill. MySpace had ads all over the place.
When I said "paid," I meant print magazines. It's hard to break into them and keep them happy. What I'm saying is that I enjoyed those pictures.
Forget print mags. If I had an international travel business to advertise, I'd buy some of your space. Not just for the pics; you're an appealing writer, too. You seem to care about how people feel when they read your posts.
Thanks for sharing Guy, are those all Roman Catholic Churches ?
This is the only Roman Catholic church:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9uy/3608292252/
The rest are Lutheran.
After coming home from a week in Iceland in 2005, I flipped through a lot of books in both new and used bookstores looking for unique books on Iceland. The only one that appealed to me, and which IS truly unique, was a used 1988 book, 'Churches of Iceland' by Rev. Gunnar Kristjansson. Not for any relgious reasons, but I feel great peace looking at pictures of these and, yes, of how well, in either their simplicity or modernity, they fit into the landscape in lovely ways. The book contains interesting facts and figures on each. Keep an eye out for the book in the used bookstores or overpay for it here ...
http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?binding=&mtype=&keyword=Churches+of+Iceland
I'm going to scope out some of these churches myself when I get back the fair island, take some interesting photos of my own, and/or perhaps just sit, meditate, and let all my cares float out of me.
lutheran is a total shock to me :(
Why in shock Lucia? The Lutheran church came from Norway and it's dominant in most of Scandinavia.
I enjoyed seeing familiar and new churches. Thanks again for an interesting post, and for inspiring interesting comments.
Yep thanks for the history lesson Guy I just checked wiki and 80% are members of the National Church of Iceland a Lutheran denomination and only 2% are Roman Catholics I had no clue and presumed vice versa
Hey guy, how are you? Best wishes for you and your new family, and the baby girl!
Here is a cathedral that looks like the Tokyo tower, just sharing something different with you, since you showed so many ones too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_Maringá
thanks for posting it, very nice,
Shalom,
Elilsheva.
Nice to see those photos, though I'm not religious I work in most of those churches, some of them a lot. Isn't Borgarnes sort of stretching it for the greater Reykjavík area, though?..
Agree on the Soviet look of some of the housing. I wouldn't want to move there from my house - which you can see from the top photo actually.
this is it, here
Hildigunnur, actually Borgarnes is not part of greater Reykjavik, it's a different municipality. I still haven't collected all the churches there. I depend on too many factors. The weather and being there physically, are the most significant ones.
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