Savvy Sightseer - tips and insights for seasoned travelers!
Reykjavík's vibrant look
Nína Sæmundsson's Hafmeyjan is rises above the town pond.
Reykjavík's city hall overlooks Tjörnin, a lovely lake.
Colorful Reykjavík
Modern mixes with traditional for captivating views at every turn in Iceland’s compact capital city. There’s glimpses into history at every turn – and not just for Iceland alone – but for America and the world as well. At Höfði house, Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev held their 1988 summit, ending the Cold War. Russia and America came together on the island on another occasion: the 1972 internationally watched chess match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer.
Reykjavík is the northernmost national capital in the world and the westernmost in Europe. Compared to some other capitals, it is a small city – about 106 square miles – but what it lacks in size it makes up for in personality and color.
A City with Character
Legend has it that Reykjavík came to be the island nation’s capital “seat” when Ingólfr Arnarson, a Norwegian Viking who had fallen out with Norway’s ruling family, beat a hasty exit with his family and whatever belongings they fit onboard their boat. Nearing land in 874 AD, he threw two pillars from his ruling high seat overboard and declared that he would establish a settlement at the place where they came to land, putting into the hands of gods as to where that would be. The pillars were eventually found washed ashore at a little bay on southwest coast. Considered to be the first settler in Iceland, Arnarson then named the site Reykjavík, translated as “smoky bay,” the smoke being steam from geothermal vents.
Click any of the pictures below for an expanded view and additional information.
Iceland's capital city is compact and colorful.
A great place to view Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace Tower when it shoots its bright lights into the sky, bringing with them wishes of peace into the universe.
To lessen the industrial look of corrugated iron housing, residents turned to striking colors.
Laugavegur is the main shopping street in Reykjavík.
This hulking seven-foot sculpture is a reminder of the women who carried water to every home until Reykjavík's municipal water utility came on line in the 20th century.
Considered a tribute to a city's thankless civil servants, the statue depicts everyday "faceless" city officials on their way to work.
An interesting sculpture that may depict a sense of alienation despite being surrounded by others.
A couple of carefree teens lounging in the city park
This is viewed as a dream boat and an ode to the sun,.
Iceland's first settler put the decision of where to found a home into the hands of Norse gods; where the pillars landed is where Reykjavík began. These basalt replicas are attached to a geothermal vent, which expels steam.
The Alpingishús was built in 1880 and is a sign of Icelandic independence.
On the lawn of Reykjavík High School, the circle is the sun, triangle is the earth and lines are the sun's rays.
A peaceful respite in the city center
Hljómskálagarður provides a relaxing place to soak up nature and do a little birdwatching of the ducks and terns that stop by for a little respite themselves.
Hallgrímskirkja overlooking city park
Hlemmur Square's cistern was a welcome stop for travelers who needed water for their horses. This sculpture commemorates the area’s pivotal role in transportation.
This home on the shore of Reykjavík is best known for the 1986 summit between Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev marking the end of the Cold War.
A four-ton section of the wall was gifted from the New West Berlin art gallery in Germany on the 25th anniversary of German reunification, facilitated by negotiations at nearby Höfði House.
This bronze sculpture commemorates diplomatic relations between Iceland and the US from 1941 to 1991. Donated by then Ambassador Charles Cobb and his wife.
Towering above the city is its Evangelical Lutheran church designed in a stepped concrete façade reminiscent of Iceland's basalt rock formations. It tops out at over 240 feet tall.
In front of the Hallgrímskirkja, the Explorer and Blue Sky statue was a gift from the United States to commemorate the 1000th year anniversary of Iceland's democratic parliament, the oldest in the world.
The United States recognizes Erickson as an Icelander - the first European to set foot on North America.
The city's main church can seat up to 1200.
Pews can flip from facing the altar over to face the grand organ over the entrance for concerts. Pew end carvings resemble basalt columns.
Inaugurated in 1992, the German-engineered 50-foot tall organ has more than 5,000 pipes and weighs 25 tons.
Iceland's largest work of outdoor art and a state-of-the-art concert and convention center. More than 10,000 glass panes replicate the hexagonal look of basalt columns.
Reykjavik's oldest street
Dramatic street art inspired by songs in a collaboration between Iceland Airwaves and Urban Nation
Street art inspired by songs in a collaboration between Iceland Airwaves and Urban Nation
Museums: Culture and History ... and the Future
Icelanders are very proud of their heritage with a number of very different museums to explain various aspects of it, such as this oddly shaped buildings that house the National Museum of Iceland and The Perlan. A third, the Settlement Exhibition, can be found underground, where an excavation has brought to life the oldest human-made structure in the country.
Click on any of the three museums below to unlock their secrets.
National Museum of Iceland
Iceland's oldest museum poses the question: What makes a nation?
The museum has a vast collection of religious relics from pagan times onward.
Iceland's oldest museum poses the question: What makes a nation?
At the National Museum of Iceland is a permanent exhibition: Making of a Nation - Heritage and History in Iceland, which gives insight into the growth of the Icelandic nation from its initial settlement to the present day, and prompts you to question: What makes a nation? The ex-hibition contains 2,000 artifacts and about 1,000 photographs. Visitors take a journey through the "Dawn of Icelandic Society" into the reigns of Christian chiefs, Norse and Danish kings, and on into independence.
The Perlan
The Perlan is home of the largest nature exhibition in Iceland.
Perlan offers an overall look at the island’s ever changing geology.
Dancing Musicians (1970)
The Perlan is home of the largest nature exhibition in Iceland.
Another museum has a more futuristic look – the Perlan. The building has an immense glass dome that sits on six hot-water tanks, each carrying four million liters of geothermal hot water. The Perlan is home of the largest nature exhibition in Iceland. There’s also a real, albeit man-made, Ice Cave in Perlan. The Ice Cave is the first of its kind in the world. It is almost 300’ long, built with more than 350 tons of snow from the Blue Mountains, in the south-west of Iceland.
The Settlement Exhibition
An artist's rendition of the structure of an early Viking home.
The main hall was about 66 feet long and 8 feet wide. The smaller hall annex was added sometime after the original and they were inhabited from 930 through1000 AD
An artist's rendition of the structure of an early Viking home.
The Settlement Exhibition museum provides visitors with an altogether different experience. Here Viking ruins pair with digital technology, for a fun and very interesting multi-media presentation. It has earned an award for Best Design of Digital Experiences in Museums in the Nordic Countries. The exhibit's odd alter-name, Reykjavik 871 +/- 2, comes from how the house was dated – under it is a layer of volcanic ash from an eruption 1-2 years before or after year 871.
Continue your trip through Iceland with a visit to the Iceland Home Page, Golden Circle or South Iceland pages.
For a taste of Reykjavík, try the delicious Cod Stew recipe on the Recipes Tab (under More).
