Walking uphill from Reykjavík's old harbor along the sloping street of Skólavörðustígur, lined on both sides with brightly painted low houses, visitors see at the top of the rise a pale gray concrete facade stepping upward in vertical columns toward a central pointed spire that fills the sky. There are no statues of saints on the facade and no rose window: only repeating vertical lines that recall the hexagonal basalt columns found across the Icelandic landscape.
Most Icelanders belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland (Þjóðkirkjan), the national Protestant church in the Lutheran tradition. Hallgrímskirkja is not a cathedral, but a parish church. The library selects it to represent the religious life of Iceland because of the name it bears: Hallgrímur Pétursson, Iceland's most beloved hymn writer. As the church's official website notes, verses from his fifty Passion Hymns accompanied Icelanders from cradle to grave for centuries. Raising the nation's largest church in memory of a hymn writer is Iceland's own way of expressing its faith.
IHallgrímur Pétursson and the Passion Hymns
Hallgrímskirkja means the Church of Hallgrímur. Belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, it serves both as a national landmark and as an active parish church with a vibrant life of worship and sacred music, according to the official website hallgrimskirkja.is. It is the largest church in Iceland and houses the country's largest pipe organ.
According to the church's website, Hallgrímur Pétursson was born in 1614 at Gröf in Höfðaströnd, grew up at the episcopal see of Hólar, traveled to Copenhagen to train as a blacksmith before leaving that trade, and entered the school at Hólar in 1637. He served as pastor at Hvalsnes and later at Saurbær on the shore of Hvalfjörður. Britannica records that he contracted leprosy in his later years and died on October 27, 1674.
The Passion Hymns (Passíusálmar) consist of fifty hymns that, according to the church's website, form a meditation on the suffering of Jesus Christ, following each stage of the Passion narrative in the Gospels. In the Lutheran tradition, hymnody goes beyond musical accompaniment to become a way for the entire congregation to learn and pray the Word of God together in their mother tongue. A single collection of hymns can thus become the devotional book of an entire people, as happened in Iceland.
Britannica notes that the Passion Hymns were first printed in 1666 and had gone through sixty-eight editions by 1996, remaining the most cherished devotional poems in Iceland. The church's website records that the hymns are broadcast on Icelandic national radio every Lent and have been translated into Danish, Norwegian, English, German, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, and Chinese.
Regarding the year of Hallgrímur's death, both the official website and Britannica give 1674. One travel website (Arctic Adventures) states that he lived until 1688, which conflicts with the primary historical sources, so the library follows 1674.
Many visitors assume Hallgrímskirkja is the cathedral of Reykjavík because it is the largest and tallest church in the city. It is not. The cathedral of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland is a much smaller 18th-century church in the historic downtown. Hallgrímskirkja is a parish church, built on a monumental scale as a memorial sanctuary rather than an episcopal see.
IIForty-One Years to Build a Church
Hallgrímskirkja is the newest monument in the library's Nordic church group, yet its construction spanned one of the longest periods in Icelandic architectural history. Arctic Adventures calls it the longest-running building project in the country. The design was commissioned in 1937, groundbreaking took place in 1945, and the completed church was consecrated only in 1986.
- 1614Birth of Hallgrímur PéturssonBorn at Gröf in Höfðaströnd and raised at the episcopal see of Hólar, according to the church website.
- 1666First printing of the Passion HymnsThe fifty hymns meditating on Christ's Passion were printed for the first time and quickly spread across Iceland, according to Britannica.
- 1674Death of Hallgrímur PéturssonDied on October 27, 1674 according to Britannica, after serving for many years as pastor at Hvalsnes and Saurbær.
- 1937Architectural commissionState Architect Guðjón Samúelsson was commissioned to design the church, according to the official website, Perlan, and Arctic Adventures.
- 1945Construction beginsBuilding work began and continued in stages across forty-one years: the crypt beneath the choir was consecrated in 1948, and the spire and side wings were completed in 1974.
- 1986ConsecrationThe nave was completed and the entire church was consecrated on October 26, 1986, according to the official website hallgrimskirkja.is.
- 1992Inauguration of the Klais organThe 5,275-pipe concert organ built by Johannes Klais Orgelbau of Bonn was inaugurated as the largest pipe organ in Iceland.
The clearest discrepancy among sources concerns the height of the tower. The official website hallgrimskirkja.is states 73 meters, whereas Perlan and Arctic Adventures give 74.5 meters. The library records both figures and cites the official website first. The 1.5-meter difference likely stems from measuring either to the top of the concrete spire or to the tip of the cross and lightning rod.
Another notable detail is that the church was consecrated on October 26, the eve of the anniversary of Hallgrímur's death on October 27. Because the consulted sources do not state whether the date was chosen intentionally for that reason, the library simply sets the two dates side by side.
IIIBasalt Columns Cast in Concrete
Architect Guðjón Samúelsson sought a distinctly Icelandic architectural form. The facade consists of vertical concrete shafts stepping upward in sweeping curves on either side of the central tower, modeled on columnar basalt, the hexagonal volcanic rock formations common across Iceland, according to Perlan. Arctic Adventures notes that the composition recalls Svartifoss waterfall in Skaftafell, where water plunges over a cliff of dark basalt columns. Architectural historians describe the building as a synthesis of Gothic verticality and early-20th-century Expressionism.
Inside, the tall, bright nave has plain white walls and pointed vaults with minimal ornament, reflecting the Lutheran emphasis on the spoken Word and sacred music over visual imagery. For another major 20th-century church built across several decades, readers may compare Washington National Cathedral.
Stepped concrete columns rise on both sides toward the central tower measuring 73 meters according to the official website, or 74.5 meters according to Perlan and Arctic Adventures, housing a carillon of 29 bells. An observation deck near the top offers panoramic views of Reykjavík, the surrounding mountains, and the sea.
A long, bright hall covering about 1,676 square meters of floor space, with white walls, pointed vaults, and tall clear glass windows that reinterpret Gothic proportions in a simplified 20th-century idiom.
Built by Johannes Klais of Bonn and inaugurated in 1992. Standing 15 meters tall and weighing 25 tons, it has 102 ranks, 72 stops, and 5,275 pipes, the longest measuring 10 meters, according to Perlan and Arctic Adventures.
The entire church is cast in reinforced concrete, a 20th-century material contrasting with the cut stone and fired brick of medieval Nordic cathedrals.
Looking at the sweeping facade, some visitors assume it represents an erupting volcano or a glacier snout. The consulted sources specifically identify hexagonal basalt columns, with one source pointing to the basalt cliff at Svartifoss waterfall. Others assume the forty-one-year build was caused by technical failures, whereas the sources simply record that the church was built in stages from 1945 to 1986.
IVLandform and Orientation
Because this is a 20th-century church on a volcanic island near the Arctic Circle, a clear distinction is essential. Lutheranism does not teach feng shui. While medieval Western churches placed the chancel toward the east, modern Lutheran churches follow urban topography and street grids: at Hallgrímskirkja, the main facade and tower face northwest, aligned directly down Skólavörðustígur toward the downtown and harbor, while the sanctuary lies at the southeast end. Icelanders also have their own folk traditions regarding the land, unrelated to East Asian geomancy. What follows is solely a comparative reading by the library through traditional Vietnamese geomancy.
First is the commanding hilltop. The church crowns Skólavörðuholt, a prominent rise in central Reykjavík. As the official website notes, the tower commands an unobstructed panorama of the city, mountains, and sea. Traditional Vietnamese site reading describes a monument occupying such a central height as holding a stabilizing position (trấn) around which the surrounding neighborhoods gather. The straight street of Skólavörðustígur climbing uphill from the downtown acts like a ceremonial approach leading directly to the main portal.
Second is the pairing of mountain and sea. Reykjavík sits beside Faxaflói Bay opening onto the North Atlantic, with mountain ranges rising across the water. In Vietnamese geomantic terms, the broad bay serves as a vast outer court (minh đường) and the distant mountains across the water act as a front screen (án sơn). Yet on an exposed island swept by North Atlantic gales, an open hilltop like Skólavörðuholt offers little wind shelter (tàng phong). The heavy concrete mass and stepped buttress-like wings anchoring the tower to the ridge can be read visually as a way of standing firm against the wind.
Third is the element of stone. The facade echoes columnar basalt formed by cooling lava. In Five-Phase imagery, volcanic rock carries the imprint of both fire and earth, and a building that takes its silhouette from the island's own bedrock speaks in the visual language of the ground it stands on. The library records these visual parallels for comparison, not to suggest the architect worked from geomantic rules.
VGood Friday and the Lutheran Liturgical Year
The church follows the Lutheran liturgical calendar of the Church of Iceland, with fixed feasts on the Gregorian calendar and moveable feasts calculated from Easter. The observance most closely bound to the church's name is Good Friday, when all fifty Passion Hymns are recited in a single continuous reading. According to the Friends of the Arts Society (Listvinafélagið) in Reykjavík, the society organized this complete reading at Hallgrímskirkja for thirty years before moving the event to the Harpa Concert Hall in 2022. The table lists dates only, without hours.
| Date | Calendar | Observance | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good Friday, moveable each year | Lutheran liturgical calendar, calculated from Easter | Complete reading of the Passion Hymns | All fifty hymns by Hallgrímur Pétursson are read aloud in sequence, interspersed with choral music, commemorating Christ's Passion. |
| Throughout Lent | Lutheran liturgical calendar, calculated from Easter | Radio reading of the Passion Hymns | According to the church website, the hymns are read daily on Icelandic national radio throughout the season of Lent. |
| October 26 | Gregorian calendar, anniversary | Consecration anniversary of the church | Recalls October 26, 1986, when the completed church was consecrated. |
| October 27 | Gregorian calendar, memorial day | Death anniversary of Hallgrímur Pétursson | Died in 1674, according to Britannica. Day of remembrance for the poet and pastor after whom the church is named. |
| Moveable each year | Lutheran liturgical calendar, calculated from Easter | Easter | The principal feast of the Christian year, concluding Holy Week. |
| December 24 and 25 | Gregorian calendar, Lutheran liturgical calendar | Christmas | Celebrates the Nativity of Christ, preceded by the four weeks of Advent. |
Visitors sometimes assume that hymns are only sung by a choir. In Iceland, the Passion Hymns are also spoken aloud as poetry and prayer so listeners can follow every line. That practice has kept 17th-century verse alive in everyday Icelandic culture. For a medieval Nordic cathedral in the same Lutheran tradition, readers can explore Nidaros Cathedral in Norway.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Hallgrímstorg 1, 101 Reykjavík
- Getting there
- The church stands at Hallgrímstorg 1 atop Skólavörðuholt Hill in central Reykjavík, a short walk uphill along Skólavörðustígur from the historic downtown and old harbor.
- Coordinates
- 64.1417, -21.9266
Hallgrímskirkja is an active parish church hosting regular worship services, baptisms, weddings, funerals, and organ recitals. Local custom asks visitors to keep silence in the nave, refrain from walking to the front during worship or family services, and never photograph private family ceremonies. When the organ is being practiced or performed, visitors walk quietly and listen as in a worship service.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
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?Quick Questions
What denomination does Hallgrímskirkja belong to?
Hallgrímskirkja belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland (Þjóðkirkjan) and serves as a parish church rather than a cathedral. According to its official website, it is both a national landmark and an active parish church with regular worship and sacred music.
How tall is Hallgrímskirkja?
The church's official website states that the tower is 73 meters tall, while Perlan and Arctic Adventures give 74.5 meters. The library records both figures. It is the largest church in Iceland, and its observation deck overlooks Reykjavík, the surrounding mountains, and the sea.
Who was Hallgrímur Pétursson?
He was an Icelandic Lutheran pastor and poet, born in 1614 and died on October 27, 1674 according to Britannica. He composed the fifty Passion Hymns, first printed in 1666, which became Iceland's most treasured devotional poetry. Hallgrímskirkja is named in his honor.
How long did it take to build Hallgrímskirkja?
Designed by State Architect Guðjón Samúelsson in 1937, the church was begun in 1945 and consecrated on October 26, 1986, taking forty-one years to build in stages. Arctic Adventures calls it the longest-running construction project in Iceland.
Why does the facade of Hallgrímskirkja have a stepped shape?
The facade consists of vertical concrete columns stepping upward on either side of the central tower, modeled on hexagonal basalt columns formed by volcanic lava across Iceland. Arctic Adventures links the silhouette to Svartifoss waterfall, where water drops over a cliff of basalt columns, combining Gothic verticality with Expressionist architecture.