Hallgrímskirkja – The Big Church

THallgrímskirkja (which is pronounced nothing like it sounds) is a Lutheran (Church of Iceland) parish church. It is the largest church in Iceland, can be seen from most of Rekyavick and is one of the tallest structures in all of Iceland.

The church is named after an Icelandic poet and clergyman Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614–1674)

The church is a short walk up a hill from the Old Town. It was designed to resemble the trap rocks, mountains and glaciers of Iceland’s landscape. And indeed it does.

Building from crypt to steeple took 41 years and started in 1945. At the time, the building was criticized as both too old-fashioned and too eclectic. The church was originally less high, but the leaders of the Church of Iceland could not resist the urge to scrape the heavens just a wee bit closer then the now second largest Church Landakotskirkja (Catholic).

The front of the Church could not look more different than the back of the church,

The Church is comprised of one giant open space, with lots of natural light and incredible acoustics.

Such cool geometry in the design of the ceilings.

I enjoyed this Church with its simple vast spaces, soft interior lines, peaked ceilings and grandiose use of space. I enjoyed the simple ways the building used natural light and liked experiencing alternate viewpoints of the same shared space by moving about. The stained glass in this church is also quite striking, colorful with narrative motifs. It seemed, “down to earth” and not so other worldly. The church is in use for both regular services and weddings and special events.

Stained Glass was simple and colorful. And I dare say, the guy on the right seems slightly “vikingish”

The church houses a massive, quite spectacular pipe organ and two smaller ones. The large organ has electronic action and the pipes are remote from the four manuals and pedal console. There are 102 ranks, 72 stops and 5275 pipes.

This organ is massive. It ‘s 49 ft tall and weighs 55,000 pounds.

It is quite truly a work of art. I only wish I could have heard it played. They also have an amazing choir. Here is a performance made their in 2012 by the artist Bjork and the choir. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Scvy-JclyDE

This is the back of a much smaller organ.

Front of the smaller organ, yes, I was tempted, very tempted.

This Church seemed to pick up everyones spirits including my travel buds, Willie and Britta.

The steeple of the church has an observation tower accessed by a lift. We did not go up it. There was no shortage of view from the church site itself.

You can see the observation deck, where you can get a piece of Leif’s view.

The general area around the church is very nice with lots of sweeping views.

The statue of explorer Leif Erikson (c.970 – c.1020) by the American Sculptur Alexander Stirling Calder in front of the church is older than the church. It was a gift from the United States in honor of the 1930 Althing Millennial Festival, commemorating the 1000th anniversary of the convening of Iceland’s parliament at Þingvellir in 930 AD. A truly remarkable story unto itself.