Sunday, April 28, 2013

Hallgrimskirkja

The largest church in Iceland has has a facade that resembles basalt columns.  It is plain on the inside and lacks stained glass or adornment.  There is a famous organ that is used frequently in services and for concerts.  According to our guide, the Icelandic people are not particularly religous and I didn't see as many churches there as in other parts of Europe.  There are more in the countryside, but again according to our guide, they were built because the builder could levy fees from them.

The statue out front is Leifur Eriksson, first European to land in the Americas.  He beat Columbus by almost 500 years.

1 comment:

Megan said...

This is my favorite photo of the trip, Dad! I hope you have another with you or mom in front of it so that I can get an idea of the scale. I love that the front of the church is empty in this pic, though.