Walking around Reykjavik, especially on its main shopping street of Laugavegur, it’s impossible to miss the arresting white monolith that thrusts into the sky like a gleaming dagger. This is Hallgrimskirkja, the largest church in Iceland.
In stark contrast to downtown Reykjavik, where most buildings are colorful, blocky and low to the ground, Hallgrimskirkja seizes attention with its modern starkness, expansive arms and defiant height. Designed in 1937, completed in 1986 and refurbished in 2009, it is timeless—something out of a fantasy or science fiction novel. It could be Tolkien’s Isengard, or maybe the church where a chubby little Kryptonian could have been christened Kal-el.
In front stands a statue of Leif Ericson, the Icelandic explorer who was the first European to land in North America. Leif’s father, Erik the Red, was a Viking outlaw who was exiled from both Norway and Iceland, and eventually discovered Greenland.
Behind its imposing facade, Hallgrimskirkja is all serenity and simplicity.
