Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.08.2011, Page 22

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2011
1.
This is a pretty good spot to start. If
it is a nice day there will be some people
feeding the ducks and if you have some
bread you could do that too. The ducks
sure seem to appreciate it. Afterwards
head on up Fríkirkjuvegur alongside
the pond.
2.
At our first stop we find Icelandic
poet Jónas Hallgrímsson. Jónas was a
prolific writer with a keen interest in
Icelandic nature, on which he wrote
many studies. He passed away at the
young age of 37 due to blood poisoning
caused by a broken leg he sustained af-
ter slipping on the stairs at his home in
Copenhagen. This depiction by Einar
Jónsson was the first statue by an Ice-
landic artist to be erected in a public
place. It was supposed to stand in front
of where the Culture House (Þjóðmen-
ningarhúsið) now stands, but because it
was not finished at that time the statue
was ‘temporarily’ placed at the corner
of Amtmannstígur and Lækjargata in
1907. There it stood until 1947, when it
was moved to this spot.
Einar was never happy with this
statue, because he was forced to make a
‘lifelike’ depiction of Jónas by the men
who were paying for it. He thought
he could just as well be making the
man’s shoes as making him a monu-
ment in this manner. He wanted to do
something that would symbolise the
admired man and his work, and much
later on, in 1948, he made another
statue of Jónas Hallgrímsson called ‘In
the memory of the poet’, which can be
viewed at his museum.
It is worth mentioning that further
into the garden stands the self-portrait
of famed Danish sculptor Bertel Thor-
valdsen. Even though he never set foot
on Icelandic soil, he is often regarded
an Icelander as he had an Icelandic fa-
ther. This statue was a gift from the city
of Copenhagen in 1874 to commemo-
rate Iceland’s settlement one thousand
years earlier. It stood in the middle of
Austurvöllur before being moved here,
where almost no one sees it.
3.
Overlooking the pond is ‘The Spell
Broken’. Many connect it to the legend
of St. George and the dragon, where St.
George slew the dragon so he could save
the princess from being eaten by it. In
fact it is a mixture of a few old legends.
Einar sometimes took pieces from dif-
ferent folk tales and religious fables
and pieced them together to fit what
he wanted to say. It depicts the victory
of good over evil, and the rewards that
follow when you choose the right path.
Here the young woman is freed from
an evil spell when the dragon is slain.
She sheds the skin of the old crone she
was cursed to look like and revealed is
her beautiful true form. The statue was
unveiled here in 1987.
4.
‘Outlaws’ is one of Einar Jónsson's
most famous works and one that many
Icelanders identify with: the free spirit
who does not walk the beaten path.
Einar here draws inspiration from the
old folktales of ‘the outlaw’ condemned
to a hard life of solitude and isolation.
Here he may be seen carrying his dead
wife down from the highland so that he
can bury her in hallowed ground. There
is a quiet sadness in the strong look on
his face as he does what has to be done,
while carrying his only child in his oth-
er arm. This was the first piece Einar
showed publicly, and was unveiled in
Copenhagen in 1901. It got mixed re-
views from the Danes but the Icelandic
people were thrilled and thought Einar
had captured the spirit of the Icelandic
people. Once this statue of the outlaw
looked mournfully to the mountains—
now he just watches the national library
and is partially hidden by trees.
5.
Hólavalla cemetery was ready for its
first occupants in the summer of 1837
but the first person was not laid to rest
there until the winter of 1838. There
were two main reasons for the delay.
There is an old folktale that says that
the first person buried in a cemetery
becomes its watcher. This person does
not rot and its purpose is to watch over
the garden and welcome everyone that
will be buried there. People in general
want their relatives to rest in peace, so
very few wanted to nominate their loved
one to become the watcher. In the Einar
Jónsson museum, you can find a statue
named ‘The Watcher’ which is inspired
by this folktale. The other reason was
that church officials did not want just
anyone to be the first person buried in
the cemetery, so even though quite a
walking in the shadows of giants
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Culture Center
National
museum
National
library
Reykjavík
Domestic
Airport
Hlemmur
Bus Terminal
Sundhöllin
Swimming
Pool
Laugardals
Swimming
Pool
Sigurjón
Art
Museum
Viðey
ferry
Cruise
harbour
Zoo and
family park
Camping
site
Kringlan
Shopping
Mall
Laugardalshöll
Sports hall
The
Tower
City
Hall
The Einar
Jónsson
Museum
Hallgríms
kirkja
Church
National
Theatre
Culture
House
Central
Bank
Reykjavík
Art
Museum
Maritime
Museum
Old
Harbour
Area
Harpa
Concert
Hall
Tjörnin
Klambratún
Park
Öskjuhlíð
Laugardalur
Nauthólsvík
Perlan
University of Reykjavík
Kjarvalsstaðir
National
Museum
Hótel Loftleiðir
Hljómskáli
Park
Vesturbæjar
Swimming
Pool
National
Gallery
of Iceland
1
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34
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6 7
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10
Words
Sigurður Trausti Traustason
Photos
Natsha Nandabhiwat
T here are many sculptures and at-tempts at public art strewn over
Reykjavík. Most of the time we don’t no-
tice them, blinded by the familiar sur-
roundings of our day to day. We should
stop and look every now and again. A lot
of them are beautiful, and almost every
one of them has an interesting story
that goes with it. To encourage this, we
made you up a short walk which should
take about 40–50 minutes of your time.
In the walk, we focus exclusively on the
work of fabled sculptor Einar Jónsson
(1874–1954), who is one of Iceland’s
most celebrated artists and is respon-
sible for some groundbreaking sculp-
tures. Do read on, and get to know some
of the stern- faced green figures dotting
our urban landscape, and why they are
there.