My greatest love in this beautiful city is of course the symbol of Reykjavik, Hallgrimskirkja (1937, 74,5 metres, and named after the Icelandic priest and writer Hallgrímur Pétursson.) by architect Guðjón Samúelsson. The church is spectacular in many ways – not only from the outside, but also the inside is serene and breathtakingly beautiful.
We arrived late in the evening this time, and walked slowly up to her in the freezing cold, Icelandic darkness.
In front of the church stands the Leif Eriksson statue. A gift from the US 1930 when the Icelandic Parliament, AllÞingi, celebrated its 1000 year jubilée. The Viking Leif Eriksson was the son of Erik Röde, who settled in Greenland. Leif himself was the first white man to discover America.
Let us go inside. My greatest love here is the magnificent organ.
Houses in Reykjavik have to be strongly built for the rough climate. Some old wooden houses are being restored to show the old architecture – on which of course the new one is built. But I doubt any new house here has a wooden structure.
What is difficult to see in these snowy pictures, is the typical Icelandic colourful houses. In my summer memories, Reykjavik looks like this:
Tjörnin is the lake in the middle of the city. There are always people here, playing, feeding the birds, or just walking and chatting.
The main shopping street ends with Hallgrimskirkja. And that is where we too end our snowy, first walk in Iceland and Reykjavik.
Leya 
Stunning church photos.
This church is stunning! Everything abolut it.
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That angle you used on the first photo is amazing! I thought it was a fabulous piece of architecture. My friends tell me that it doesn’t often snow in Rejkjavik, but it looks pretty snowy to me from your photos. Enjoy!
It snowed for one whole day when we were there – and yes, it snowed constantly during my walk!
And was the snow like normal flakes? Or little round balls of snow, like when I was there in 2007
It was normal flakes – maybe you were caught in hail?
No it wasn’t hail, or at least hail as I now it: which is a lump of ice hitting you in a storm. It was soft little balls, quite small, a few millimetres in diameter. I read up about it, and apparently there are lots of different types of snowflakes, and the little balls are quite unusual. I just tried to google it and it may have been very small pieces of hail coated in snow? I will have to ask my Icelandic friend about it. I am a bit confused now. But it was very soft balls, so if it is hail, I will have learnt something.
Please tell me more about your finds!
I ‘ll speak to my Icelandic friend and let you know
Thanks so much for the tour of the city, Ann-Christine! Lovely, lovely photos. That first black and white image is amazing. Have a great week and stay warm!
Thank you, Patti, you too! The second tour – south – was warmer!
How ”warm” is ”warmer”?? We’re climbing out of minus zero degree F temperatures right now. But I’m sure it’s colder where you are.
If you are thinking of Iceland we had minus 12 C and heavy wind as the worst, and on South Iceland 7 degrees C and hardly any wind at all. Clear skies and low sun. OK
Not as cold as I thought! It’s much colder here….unfortunately! 🙂
I find the photo of the parliament and cathedral interesting – the parliament building doesn’t look grandiose unlike in other European countries, unless I’m wrong 🙂 I like the Main Street View photo too…beautiful (but freezing) photos!
Kat, there are about 300 000 people in the whole country, (200 000 in Reykjavik) and they never build grandiose in size – except for Hallgrimskirkja!
Yeah, after sending that comment, I realised that Iceland is small in population, so that’s one of the reasons why they don’t have grandiose buildings.
Så vacker kyrkan är. Ser så mysigt ut med dom färgglada husen.
Such a magnificent church, Ann Christine, and the organ is amazing. I would love to hear it played. It looks really cold there, but I’m sure you’re far more used to cold weather than I am. I loved seeing the bird conference being held on the lake. 🙂
There was no concert on when we visited – but I’m sure it has much of soul.
This is magnificent, Ann-Christine! Want, want want to go there! 🙂
.-D More posts on their way. You will love visiting iceland!
We are convinced! 🤗🤗🤗🤗
I’m glad! Then we will have some of your wonderful stories and pictures as well!
You have captured the beauty of this magical land and that stunning church.
Tough weather though – but thank you!
It was perpetual daylight when we were there ….. and a dizzy 19deg C. Nice though to be reminded of a lovely city and a great country. My only fear is that it will get over run with tourists, it starting to get that way and some places are already showing signs of stress. But the country needs the income so I hope they reinvest in better infrastructure in the hot spots outside of Reykjavik. (on the hit list is a trip for the Northern Lights and frozen falls)
My fear is the same. With that much media exposure it must be inevitable. These few days we visited now there were not many though. I wondered how some people managed walking in thin stockings and light shoes…15 below zero and tough wind. At Gullfoss I thought my face would freeze off.
Winter breaks seem very popular from the UK…some of the deals sound great value so I guess its not surprising.
Thanks for the walk around – now I want to see the place for myself!
Go for summer visiting!
Okey doke!
Wow. Beautiful. I think I will wait for summer though. 🙂
Good idea!
Fantastiska bilder! Kul att se …
Ann Christine, thanks for the tour today. I love the photos of the church and the light you caught. That last shot is really cool and shows the magnificence of the church.
janet
In my opinion Hallgrimskirkja is one of the most serene churches I have visited.
Superbe! Une belle visite.
Merci beacoup!