Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.05.2011, Blaðsíða 16

16
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 6 — 2011
Experience excitement in Iceland’s
pure nature or get a bird’s eye view
of the country’s most beautiful places
Adventure tours Air charter servicesScheduled flights
This tour takes you from Reykjavík
to the island of Heimaey in the
Westman Islands archipelago.
Boat trip on the Glacier lagoon and
an ATV excursion in the area of
Europe’s largest glacier, Vatnajökull.
A never-to-be-forgotten trip
showing the sharply contrasting
faces of Iceland’s natural features.
Activity
Adventure
A Historical Tour of
the Westman Islands
Ice and Fire –
Glaciers and Volcanoes
Reykjavík Airport | +354 562 4200
info@eagleair.is | www.eagleair.is
Bookingsand information
Reykjavík | History
THE MASTER BUILDER, THE MINISTER AND
THE CHURCH WE USED TO THINK WAS UGLY
The story of Hallgrímskirkja, its architect and plans for a utopian city of culture
The idea of building a
church on the hill called
Skólavörðuholt was first
broached as early as 1916.
Architect Guðjón Samúelsson started
making sketches for the church in 1937.
He was intent on finding an Icelandic
style of architecture, truly a hard task
in a country where the building style
consisted of turf huts and, later, timber
houses from Norway and Denmark—
many of them prefabricated. So Guðjón
Samúelsson looked to nature for inspi-
ration. Hallgrímskirkja is supposedly
influenced by mountains and glaciers,
but first and foremost by basalt lava
formations common in Icelandic na-
ture. These can also be seen both on
the interior and the exterior of another
Guðjón Samúelsson building, the Na-
tional Theatre on Hverfisgata.
LONG CONSTRUCTION TIME
It took a long time to build houses in
Reykjavík in those days. The National
Theatre was started in 1932 and not
opened until 1950. It was used as a
depot for the British and American
forces during the war. It was then fin-
ished during a burst of energy that so
drained the architect’s powers that he
was actually on his deathbed during
the theatre’s inauguration. The building
time of Hallgrímskirkja was 38 years.
It rose very slowly out of the ground,
sometimes no work was done during
long periods.
The building was also the butt of
many a joke. Iceland´s most famous
20th century poet, Steinn Steinarr, a
drinker and a cynic, wrote a famous
poem about the church where Hall-
grímur Pétursson—the priest and poet
to whom the church is dedicated—
comes to the architect and asks him to
please stop:
The Master Builder of the state
took a handful of clay
the late Hallgrímur Pétursson came to him
and said: No more, no more!
There was also the question of build-
ing materials. Iceland had no trees
to build from—up until the mid 20th
century there were almost no trees in
the country—and there was little tradi-
tion of stone masonry. So Icelanders
warmly embraced reinforced concrete,
so much so that it became the favoured
building material. However, the quality
of the concrete wasn’t good, and there
was too much salt in the sand used to
mix with the cement. The National The-
atre has been crumbling for a long time
and the tower of Hallgrímskirkja has
been extensively renovated two times.
A BEAUTIFUL BUILDING?
It is only in latter years that Icelanders
themselves have come to realise that
Hallgrímskirkja is actually quite a beau-
tiful building. Its fame has come from
abroad; it is mentioned in most guide-
books and Skólavörðuholt is a favou-
rite with tourists who come to see the
church and the statue of Leifur Eiríks-
son. Skólavörðustígur, the street which
lies up to the church, is one of the most
pleasant streets in Reykjavík with its
small houses of corrugated iron, a
building material considered ugly by
many but greatly appreciated in a land
of wind and rain.
In the old days, the hill was very
rocky, as were the eastern slopes
around Tjörnin, the pond in the cen-
tre of Reykjavík. On the top there was
a small tower where the young men of
the Reykjavík Latin School, then the
highest institution of learning, came to
discuss their private matters. There was
a small road up the hill. Beside it there
was an unmarked grave containing the
bones of murderess Steinunn Sveins-
dóttir, who died in prison in 1805. It was
a tradition to throw a stone towards
the grave when passing it. Later, when
rocks were being taken from the hill to
build the harbour of Reykjavík, a small
casket with old bones was found and
finally buried in the old cemetery on the
western side of the lake.
THE AUTHORITIES’ FAVOURITE
The architect Guðjón Samúelsson was
a remarkable man. His buildings are
numerous and many of them are quite
monumental—no builder in Icelandic
history has been so favoured by local
authorities.
Guðjón’s main spokesman was Jó-
nas Jónsson from Hrifla, Iceland’s most
controversial 20th century politician.
Jónas was by all means a remarkable
man. He was a farm boy from the north,
and he always held the conviction that
real culture was to be found on farms
and in the countryside. In 1916 and 1917
he was the founder of two of Iceland's
main political parties, Framsóknarflok-
kurinn, the Farmers’ Party, and Alþýðu-
flokkurinn, the Social Democratic party.
Jónas believed it was the destiny of
these parties to work together against
the corrupting influences of the mer-
chant class, and later against commu-
nism.
THE LITTLE MUSSOLINI
In 1927 Jónas entered government, as
Minister of Education and Justice, and
soon became the most powerful man
in the country. He was hated by his en-
emies, who actually got the director of
Reykjavík’s mental asylum, Kleppur, to
declare that Jónas was mad and should
be hospitalised. Jónas fought back, the
affair is commonly referred to as ‘The
Big Bomb’. But certainly he had mega-
lomaniacal tendencies—the then-king
of Denmark and Iceland, Christian X, is
rumoured to have asked him: "Are you
still playing at being the little Musso-
lini?"
True to his ideals, Jónas built
schools around the country—higher
education was no more to be a domain
of the upper class. Many of these large
houses, some of them designed by
Guðjón Samúelsson, now stand empty
around the countryside. Jónas was also
interested in cultural matters, founding
a state publishing house to counter the
influence of communists in literature,
and even holding an exhibition of de-
generate modern art—taking the cue
from German Nazis.
CITY OF CULTURE
The architect also had huge plans for
Skólavörðuholt. Hallgrímskirkja is but a
faint shadow of these plans. Originally it
was going to be a cathedral in the cen-
tre of a big plaza. Around it were to be
the university of Iceland, student build-
ings, the National Gallery as well as the
museum of Einar Jónsson. This was
going to be the high seat of Icelandic
culture—"Háborg" is the Icelandic word,
signifying a glorious city upon a hill.
These plans have faded into history.
But we have the church and the sculp-
ture museum. The hilltop looks better
than it has for many years—to tell the
truth it used to be a bit shabby. If you
look down the hill towards the east and
the south you might catch a glimpse
of two other large buildings by Guðjón
Samúelsson, Sundhöll Reykjavíkur and
the National Hospital, both built in the
thirties. Another feature of the hill is of
course the statue of Leifur Eiríksson
who, as Oscar Wilde noted, “[...]found
America, but had the good sense to
lose it again.” But then, if he had stayed,
New York might have been called New
Reykjavík and all those Americans
might be speaking Icelandic!
Words
Egill Helgason
Illustration
Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
Everyone should try going up to the top of Hallgrímskirkja and
looking down on the people Reykjavík. It's pretty neat.
“It is only in latter years that Icelanders themselves
have come to realise that Hallgrímskirkja is actually
quite a beautiful building”