In the historic Kvosin district at the heart of Reykjavik, where a low neck of land lies cradled between the cold North Atlantic waters of Faxafloi Bay to the north and the calm surface of Lake Tjornin to the south, opens the green public square of Austurvollur. Unlike the towering expressionist concrete spire of Hallgrimskirkja on the eastern ridge or the flat-topped Gothic tower of the Basilica of Christ the King (Landakotskirkja) on the western hill, the central cathedral of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland (Thjodkirkjan) presents a remarkably modest, serene, and human-scaled silhouette. With whitewashed masonry walls, a dark slate roof, Danish Neoclassical stepped gables, and a square timber bell tower looking directly across the lawn toward the hewn-stone Parliament House (Althingishusid), this is Reykjavik Cathedral, known simply to Icelanders as Domkirkjan.
Within the history of Nordic Protestantism and the constitutional life of the Republic of Iceland, Domkirkjan occupies a position far greater than its physical dimensions might suggest. Begun in 1787 and consecrated on November 6, 1796 after catastrophic volcanic eruptions and earthquakes compelled the Danish Crown to transfer the seven-hundred-year-old southern bishopric from Skalholt Cathedral to the growing coastal town of Reykjavik, this church became in 1801 the sole cathedral seat for the entire island nation. Beneath its timber vault on August 2, 1874, the millennial hymn Lofsongur (O, Gud vors lands, meaning O, God of Our Land) was sung for the very first time, becoming the national anthem of Iceland; and through its portals every September, the President of Iceland, the Bishop of Iceland, and the members of the Althingi still walk in solemn procession to inaugurate each new parliamentary session.
IThe Sole Episcopal See of the National Church of Iceland, the Millennial Hymn Lofsongur, and Civic Sacredness on Austurvollur
In the Icelandic language, the word Domkirkjan literally signifies the Cathedral Church (combining domur, derived from the Latin domus Dei or episcopal chapter, with kirkja, meaning church). Ever since the Icelandic commonwealth peacefully adopted Christianity by law at the Althingi assembly at Thingvellir in the summer of the year 1000 CE, religious life on the island has been closely interwoven with civic law and poetic literature. Following the completion of the Lutheran Reformation in the mid-sixteenth century (1540 in the south and 1550 in the north), the Church of Iceland embraced the Evangelical Lutheran tradition, grounded in vernacular Scripture, the Augsburg Confession, Martin Luther's Small Catechism, and congregational hymnody.
Rather than bearing the name of a medieval patron saint, Reykjavik Cathedral is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and the Risen Jesus Christ, as proclaimed visually by the Resurrection altarpiece in the eastern choir. Yet ecclesiastically, Domkirkjan is the direct living heir of Iceland's two ancient medieval dioceses: Skalholt (founded in 1056 in the south) and Holar (founded in 1106 in the north). When those two historic sees were merged into a single national diocese in 1801, Bishop Geir Vidalin (1761 to 1823) took his seat at Domkirkjan as the first sole Bishop of Iceland (Biskup Islands). Since that date, every Bishop of Iceland and nearly every Lutheran pastor serving parishes from Reykjavik to Akureyrarkirkja in the north has been consecrated or ordained before the altar of Domkirkjan.
The spiritual ethos of Domkirkjan is expressed most eloquently in the fusion of Lutheran prayer and Nordic poetic reverence before the majesty of subarctic nature. That spirit reached its historic zenith inside the cathedral on August 2, 1874, during the national celebration marking one thousand years since the first permanent Norse settler, Ingolfur Arnarson, made his home at Reykjavik (874 to 1874). During a solemn thanksgiving liturgy held at Domkirkjan in the presence of King Christian IX of Denmark (who had traveled to Iceland to grant the country its first constitution providing legislative home rule), the choir and organ premiered the millennial hymn Lofsongur (Hymn of Praise, inspired by Psalm 90), with lyrics written by the pastor and national poet Matthias Jochumsson (1835 to 1920) and music composed by Sveinbjorn Sveinbjornsson (1847 to 1927).
Opening with the lines O, Gud vors lands! O, lands vors Gud! (O, God of our land! O, land's our God! We worship Thy thrice-holy Name; a thousand years before Thy sight are like a day that has just gone by, and like a tiny flower that trembles in the morning frost, prays, and fades away), the anthem born inside Domkirkjan gave voice to a nation that had endured centuries of volcanic ash, famine, and isolation. Free of martial boastfulness, Iceland's national anthem remains a liturgical prayer first offered at the altar of Reykjavik Cathedral.
Long before the present stone cathedral was begun in 1787, the ground beside Lake Tjornin and Austurvollur Square had been consecrated soil since the earliest centuries of Icelandic settlement. Archaeological excavations along adjacent Adalstraeti and Kirkjustraeti (Church Street) immediately west of Domkirkjan have uncovered the foundations of a ninth-century Viking Age longhouse (skali) along with the ancient churchyard cemetery of Vikkirkjugardur and a succession of turf-and-timber parish churches dating from the eleventh to the eighteenth centuries.
According to medieval church registers (such as the Kirknatal compiled around 1200 by Bishop Pall Jonsson of Skalholt), the medieval church of the farmstead at Vik (Reykjavik) was dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Myra, patron of seafarers. After the catastrophic Laki volcanic fissure eruption (Skaftareldar, 1783 to 1784) poisoned pastures across the island and the great Southern Iceland earthquakes of August 1784 reduced the episcopal buildings at Skalholt to ruins, the royal government in Copenhagen decreed in 1785 that both the episcopal see and the Latin cathedral school should be relocated to Reykjavik (which received its municipal charter in 1786). The old turf parish church on Kirkjustraeti continued to serve until the new stone cathedral was consecrated just a few paces to the east in November 1796.
A frequent misconception among international travelers arriving in Reykjavik is the assumption that the towering 74.5-meter concrete church of Hallgrimskirkja atop Skolavorduholt hill (completed in 1986) is the Cathedral of Reykjavik. In reality, although Hallgrimskirkja is the largest church building in Iceland, it is a parish church and national memorial to the seventeenth-century poet Hallgrimur Petursson, not a cathedral. The official cathedra (episcopal throne) of the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland has stood continuously in Domkirkjan on Austurvollur Square since 1796. Reykjavik's only other cathedral is Landakotskirkja on Landakot Hill, which serves as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Reykjavik.
IIOver Two Centuries from the 1784 Volcanic Crisis and Andreas Kirkerup's Design to the Birth of the Modern Republic
The architectural and institutional history of Reykjavik Cathedral mirrors the transformation of Reykjavik from a tiny eighteenth-century wool-weaving village of fewer than three hundred inhabitants into the capital of a sovereign Nordic republic.
- 1784 to 1785Earthquakes destroy Skalholt and King Christian VII transfers the see to ReykjavikFollowing the Laki volcanic eruption (1783) and the devastating Southern Iceland earthquakes of August 1784, the Danish Crown decrees in 1785 that the Diocese of Skalholt and its school be moved to Reykjavik.
- 1787 to November 6, 1796Construction and consecration of the stone cathedral designed by Andreas KirkerupRoyal Danish court architect Andreas Kirkerup (1749 to 1810) designs a late-Baroque and Neoclassical church built of local basalt and imported limestone; after nine years of construction, Bishop Geir Vidalin consecrates Domkirkjan on November 6, 1796.
- 1801Unification of the ancient sees of Skalholt and Holar into a single Diocese of IcelandWhen the northern see of Holar is dissolved in 1801, all of Iceland is united into a single Lutheran diocese with Domkirkjan in Reykjavik as the sole cathedral of the Bishop of Iceland.
- 1827 and 1839Bertel Thorvaldsen sculpts and donates the Carrara marble baptismal fontThe celebrated Danish-Icelandic Neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen carves a white Carrara marble baptismal font in Rome in 1827 as a gift to his father's homeland; it is installed in Domkirkjan in 1839.
- 1847 to 1848Architect Laurits Albert Winstrup remodels the cathedral in Danish Neoclassical styleAddressing damp masonry and growing congregations, Danish architect Laurits Albert Winstrup (1815 to 1889) replaces the high hipped roof with stepped gables, remodels the west tower, and installs Gustav Theodor Wegener's Resurrection altarpiece.
- August 2, 1874Millennial celebration of Iceland's settlement and premiere of the National AnthemIn the presence of King Christian IX of Denmark, a solemn millennial service at Domkirkjan features the first performance of Lofsongur by Matthias Jochumsson and Sveinbjorn Sveinbjornsson.
- 1879 and 1914Expansion of the side aisles and double galleries prior to the building of Parliament HouseIn 1879 the cathedral is widened and fitted with two-tiered timber galleries and larger arched windows just before the construction of the adjacent Althingishusid (1881); heating and lighting upgrades follow in 1914.
- 1985 and 1999 to 2001Installation of the Karl Schuke Berlin pipe organ and millennial restorationIn 1985 a 31-stop mechanical tracker organ built by Karl Schuke of Berlin is installed behind the historic organ facade; between 1999 and 2001 the cathedral undergoes a comprehensive restoration marking one thousand years of Christianity in Iceland.
The Dog-Days King of 1809, the state funeral of Jon Sigurdsson in 1880, and the milestones of Icelandic sovereignty. Because Domkirkjan was for decades the largest public assembly hall in Reykjavik, every pivotal drama of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Icelandic history unfolded at its doors. During the Napoleonic Wars in June 1809, the Danish adventurer Jorgen Jorgensen (1780 to 1841), arriving aboard an armed British merchant vessel, waited until the Danish governor Count Frederik Christopher Trampe walked out of Sunday morning service at Domkirkjan, arrested him on the spot, proclaimed Iceland an independent nation under his own protection, and ruled for two summer months as the famous Dog-Days King (Hundadagakonungur) before a British warship restored Danish authority.
Seventy years later, when Iceland's revered independence leader and scholar Jon Sigurdsson (1811 to 1879) and his wife Ingibjorg Einarsdottir died in Copenhagen in December 1879, their coffins were brought home by ship to Reykjavik in the spring of 1880 and lay in state inside Domkirkjan before an immense funeral procession accompanied them to the nearby Holavallagardur cemetery. On December 1, 1918, when Iceland became a sovereign kingdom in personal union with Denmark, and again on June 17, 1944, when the Republic of Iceland was proclaimed, the bells of Domkirkjan rang out across Austurvollur Square to inaugurate the new era of national independence.
IIIDanish Neoclassical Stepped Gables, Bertel Thorvaldsen's Carrara Marble Font, and Wegener's Resurrection Altarpiece
Architecturally, Reykjavik Cathedral is the finest surviving monument of late eighteenth- and mid-nineteenth-century Danish Neoclassicism in Iceland. Combining meter-thick walls of hewn local basalt and imported limestone laid under Andreas Kirkerup's 1787 plan with the stepped brick-and-plaster gables, timber roof vaults, and two-tiered wooden galleries introduced by Laurits Albert Winstrup in 1847 to 1848 and expanded in 1879, the building achieves an atmosphere of bright, intimate Nordic dignity.
Whereas Kirkerup's original 1796 church had a steep hipped roof, Winstrup's 1847 to 1848 remodeling gave the east and west ends classical Danish stepped gables (corbie steps) beneath a dark slate roof. Rising above the western entrance is a square timber-clad bell tower painted crisp white, housing three historic church bells and the four-faced public clock that served for generations as the principal timepiece of Reykjavik.
Standing directly before the altar rail in the chancel is the artistic crown jewel of Domkirkjan: a square-pedestal neoclassical baptismal font carved from pure white Italian Carrara marble in Rome in 1827 by the world-renowned sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770 to 1844, whose father Gottskalk Thorvaldsson was an Icelandic woodcarver from northern Iceland). Gifted personally by Thorvaldsen to his ancestral homeland with the Latin inscription Islandiae Patriae Terrae, its four sides feature delicate bas-reliefs depicting the Baptism of Christ by John the Baptist, the Virgin and Child with the infant John, Christ Blessing the Little Children, and three crowned angels holding a garland of roses.
Framing the eastern sanctuary is a monumental round-arched oil painting on canvas over three meters high depicting the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, painted in 1847 by the Danish royal court painter Gustav Theodor Wegener (1817 to 1877) and presented for the 1848 reopening. Set within a white-and-gold Neoclassical architectural frame, the painting shows the Risen Christ stepping forth from the open sepulcher in radiant white robes while Roman guards fall back in awe and an angel points toward heaven.
On the south side of the chancel arch rises the historic wooden pulpit dating from the cathedral's late eighteenth-century completion, decorated in soft cream-white paint with gilded neoclassical moldings and acanthus carvings. Along the north, south, and west walls of the nave run two-story timber galleries supported by square wooden columns, providing seating for approximately 500 to 600 worshippers, including the front pews reserved for the President of Iceland and members of Parliament during state services.
On the upper western gallery stands the 31-stop mechanical tracker pipe organ built in 1985 by the renowned German organ workshop Karl Schuke Berliner Orgelbauwerkstatt. With three manuals, pedalboard, and more than 2,000 pipes, the instrument is housed inside the historic nineteenth-century Neoclassical organ case, continuing a distinguished musical lineage shaped by composer Pall Isolfsson, who served as cathedral organist from 1939 to 1968.
The cathedral sacristy and sanctuary preserve historic liturgical treasures transferred from the old see of Skalholt at the end of the eighteenth century alongside eighteenth- and nineteenth-century silver-gilt chalices, patens, baptismal ewers, and altar candlesticks crafted by Icelandic and Danish silversmiths, illuminated beneath crystal chandeliers suspended from the pale blue-grey barrel vault.
| Architectural Element or Treasure | Date and Architect or Artist | Technical Features and Historical Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Nave Masonry and Structural Core | 1787 to 1796 (architect Andreas Kirkerup) | 1 m thick walls of local basalt and imported limestone rendered in white plaster; oldest church in Reykjavik |
| Stepped Gables, Tower, and Galleries | 1847 to 1848 (Laurits Albert Winstrup) and 1879 expansion | Danish Neoclassical stepped gables, white timber clock tower, and two-tiered interior wooden galleries |
| Carrara Marble Baptismal Font | 1827 in Rome, installed 1839 (sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen) | Four-sided Neoclassical relief font gifted by Thorvaldsen to his ancestral homeland of Iceland |
| Altarpiece of the Resurrection | 1847 (Danish painter Gustav Theodor Wegener) | Monumental oil on canvas in a gilded Neoclassical arch frame depicting Christ rising from the tomb |
| Cathedral Pipe Organ | 1985 (Karl Schuke Berliner Orgelbauwerkstatt) | 31-stop, 3-manual mechanical tracker organ set behind the historic nineteenth-century organ facade |
IVThe Lie of the Land and the Facing
It should be stated clearly that the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland and the eighteenth-century Danish royal architects did not employ East Asian geomancy (feng shui) in siting or designing Reykjavik Cathedral. The site beside the ancient Vikkirkjugardur cemetery was chosen for practical and historical continuity when the bishopric moved from Skalholt in 1785, and the building follows traditional Christian liturgical orientation, with its bell tower entrance at the west and its altar in the east. The observations below offer a comparative landform reading through the framework of the Hall of Myriad Paths library.
Viewed within the macro-topography of the Seltjarnarnes peninsula at coordinates 64.1466 degrees north, 21.9394 degrees west, the historic Kvosin hollow of central Reykjavik where Domkirkjan stands forms a natural isthmus saddle flanked by two bodies of water to the north and south: just 300 meters to the north lies the sheltered harbor of Kollafjordur (an arm of Faxafloi Bay), while less than 150 meters to the south stretches the calm freshwater basin of Lake Tjornin. Across the northern bay rises the long, flat-topped volcanic massif of Mount Esja (Esjan, 914 meters), standing like a monumental screen mountain that shields the capital basin from Arctic gales.
In terms of local topography and axial alignment, the low Kvosin saddle is embraced on its eastern and western flanks by two gentle basalt hills that act as left and right guardian ridges: to the east rise Arnarholl and Skolavorduholt, and to the west rises Landakotshaed. Reykjavik Cathedral occupies the southeastern edge of the green lawn of Austurvollur Square on a classic east-to-west axis (with the main tower portal facing West toward Kirkjustraeti and the Viking Age settlement site, the altar facing East, and the north ceremonial portal opening directly onto Austurvollur Square facing the Parliament House Althingishusid). The open rectangular green of Austurvollur (centered on the bronze statue of Jon Sigurdsson) functions as a spacious outer bright hall on the north side, while Lake Tjornin immediately to the south provides a tranquil water-gathering basin that anchors the civic and spiritual heart of Iceland's capital.
VThe Opening of the Althingi Parliament, Presidential Inaugurations, and Nordic Advent at Domkirkjan
Liturgical life at Reykjavik Cathedral follows the Evangelical Lutheran liturgical calendar on the Gregorian system, interwoven with the highest constitutional ceremonies of the Republic of Iceland.
| Time of Year | Calendar System | Liturgical Feast or State Ceremony | Traditions and Rites at Reykjavik Cathedral (Domkirkjan) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Second Tuesday of September each year | Gregorian (Constitutional State Ceremony) | Divine Service for the Opening of the Althingi Parliament (Thingsetning) | The President of Iceland, the Bishop of Iceland, cabinet ministers, and all 63 members of the Althingi walk in solemn procession across Austurvollur Square into Domkirkjan for the opening service and sermon before inaugurating the legislative session. |
| August 1 (every four years following a presidential election) | Gregorian (State Ceremony) | Presidential Inauguration Service (Forsetakjor) | Prior to taking the constitutional oath in the adjacent Parliament House, the President-elect of Iceland attends a solemn choral service of blessing inside Domkirkjan. |
| Holy Week and Easter Sunday (March or April) | Gregorian | Good Friday Reading of the Passion Hymns and Easter High Mass (Paskar) | Chanting and reading of Hallgrimur Petursson's seventeenth-century Passion Hymns (Passiusalmar) on Good Friday, followed on Easter morning by festive choral liturgy broadcast nationwide. |
| June 17 each year | Gregorian (Icelandic National Day) | National Day of the Republic of Iceland (Thjodhatidardagurinn) | The bells of Domkirkjan ring out as the President lays a wreath at the statue of Jon Sigurdsson on Austurvollur Square directly outside the cathedral doors. |
| Advent Sundays, St. Thorlak's Day (December 23), and Christmas Eve (December 24) | Gregorian | Nordic Advent Services and Christmas Eve Candlelight Liturgy (Adfangadagskvold) | Near the winter solstice when daylight lasts barely four hours, the white interior of Domkirkjan glows with candlelight during the 6:00 PM Christmas Eve service presided over by the Bishop of Iceland. |
Midweek prayer services, organ recitals, and community life in central Reykjavik. Beyond Sunday morning High Mass at 11:00 AM, episcopal consecrations, pastoral ordinations, and state funerals, Domkirkjan remains an active neighborhood parish church offering midday prayers, Wednesday evening contemplative services, and regular organ recitals on the Karl Schuke organ. For international visitors and members of the Vietnamese community living in the Greater Reykjavik area, stepping from the bustling cafes of Austurvollur Square into the quiet, white-and-gold nave of Domkirkjan offers an immediate encounter with the understated dignity, historical continuity, and musical warmth of Icelandic spiritual life.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Austurvollur Square, Kirkjustraeti, 101 Reykjavik, Republic of Iceland
- Getting there
- Reykjavik Cathedral is located at Kirkjustraeti 1, on the southeastern corner of Austurvollur Square in the historic Kvosin center of Reykjavik (postal code 101). From almost anywhere in downtown Reykjavik, including the Old Harbour, Harpa Concert Hall, or Laugavegur shopping street, the cathedral is a pleasant 5-to-10-minute walk. If using Reykjavik's city bus network (Straeto), routes 1, 3, 6, 11, 12, 13, and 14 stop at Laekjartorg or Radhusid (City Hall on Lake Tjornin), less than 150 meters from the cathedral entrance. From Keflavik International Airport (KEF, located 50 kilometers southwest of Reykjavik), airport coaches (Flybus or Airport Direct) reach central Reykjavik in approximately 45 minutes.
- Coordinates
- 64.1466, -21.9394
Reykjavik Cathedral (Domkirkjan) stands at the civic heart of the capital and is open free of charge to visitors and worshippers during daytime hours (except when closed for private weddings, funerals, Sunday services, or parliamentary state ceremonies). Because the cathedral is an intimate, active house of prayer, visitors are asked to maintain quiet, silence mobile phones, refrain from stepping past the chancel rail, and never touch Bertel Thorvaldsen's white Carrara marble baptismal font. After visiting the interior, take a few minutes to walk across Austurvollur Square to view the adjacent Parliament House (Althingishusid, 1881), the Viking Age longhouse exhibition beneath Kirkjustraeti, and the birdlife along the shore of Lake Tjornin immediately to the south.
Nearby places in the library
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?Quick Questions
Is the tall concrete church of Hallgrimskirkja or Domkirkjan the official Cathedral of Reykjavik?
Domkirkjan on Austurvollur Square is the true Lutheran Cathedral of Reykjavik and the seat of the Bishop of Iceland since 1796. Although Hallgrimskirkja on the hilltop is the largest church building in Iceland, ecclesiastically it is a parish church and national memorial to the poet Hallgrimur Petursson, not a cathedral.
Why was the episcopal see transferred from Skalholt to build Domkirkjan in Reykjavik in the late eighteenth century?
After the catastrophic Laki volcanic eruption of 1783 to 1784 and the destructive Southern Iceland earthquakes of August 1784 ruined the historic cathedral complex at Skalholt, King Christian VII of Denmark decreed in 1785 that the bishopric and cathedral school be relocated to the coastal town of Reykjavik, leading to the construction of Domkirkjan between 1787 and 1796.
What is the story behind the white marble baptismal font inside Reykjavik Cathedral?
The Carrara marble baptismal font was sculpted in Rome in 1827 by the famous Neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770 to 1844), whose father Gottskalk Thorvaldsson was an Icelander. Thorvaldsen donated the font personally to his ancestral homeland (inscribed in Latin to Iceland), and it was installed in Domkirkjan in 1839 with four reliefs depicting the Baptism of Christ, the Virgin and Child, Christ Blessing the Children, and three angels.
How is Reykjavik Cathedral connected to the national anthem of Iceland?
On August 2, 1874, during a solemn service inside Domkirkjan celebrating the one-thousandth anniversary of Iceland's settlement (874 to 1874) in the presence of King Christian IX of Denmark, the hymn Lofsongur (O, Gud vors lands, written by Matthias Jochumsson and composed by Sveinbjorn Sveinbjornsson) was performed for the very first time and subsequently became the national anthem of Iceland.
What ceremony takes place every September between Domkirkjan and the adjacent Parliament House?
On the second Tuesday of September each year, the President of Iceland, the Bishop of Iceland, cabinet ministers, and all 63 members of the Althingi Parliament walk in solemn procession from Parliament House across Austurvollur Square into Domkirkjan for a traditional worship service and sermon before opening the new parliamentary session.
How did the 1847 to 1848 remodeling change the appearance of the original 1796 cathedral?
The original 1796 church designed by Andreas Kirkerup featured a high hipped roof. In 1847 to 1848, Danish architect Laurits Albert Winstrup replaced the old roof with the present Danish Neoclassical stepped gables, installed Gustav Theodor Wegener's Resurrection altarpiece, and prepared the structure for the 1879 expansion that added the side aisles and double galleries.