Reykjavík Grapevine - 16.07.2018, Qupperneq 46

This September, almost 100 years
after Katla’s last eruption, a par-
ticularly volcanic piece of history
is brought back to l ife. Fittingly
located in the middle of the Katla
UNESCO geopark in the town of Vík,
The Icelandic Lava Show pours forth
the molten remains of the volcano’s
old fury, including real molten lava
for the common person to behold.
It’s a pretty neat box to check on
your bucket list. Where else, if not in
Iceland—the place with more than
30 active volcanic systems—should
you get the opportunity to toast the
tip of your nose staring down at a vi-
ciously sizzling flow of molten rock.
The real deal
The booklet for the exhibition fea-
tures the unnerving line: “The show
recreates a volcanic eruption... by
pouring molten lava into a room full
of people.” But there’s really no rea-
son to worry. The organisers have
made sure that none of the specta-
tors will be at risk of singeing their
shoes or getting a lungful of danger-
ous gases. The show takes place in
a small auditorium, with two rows
of seats placed around a sort of lava
catwalk, caged behind safety bars.
We don our protective goggles and
prepare for the eruption.
The presentation starts with an
introduction to the natural forces
that have shaped Iceland’s volca-
nic landmass. This includes a true
story about one of the exhibition
founders’ great grandfather, who
witnessed the infamous and devas-
tating Katla eruption of 1918. After
the tingle of excitement in the room,
a more serious mood sets in. We’re
about to lay our eyes upon one of the
most wild and ferocious phenom-
enons in all of nature. Even in this
controlled setting, it ’s still a raw
and merciless force.
Blistering heat
The lights dim, and as the speak-
ers send the deep rumble of a vol-
canic eruption vibrating through
the walls and into your body. An
opening in the wall lights up, and
a slender, slow-moving trickle of
candescent, glaringly bright, sear-
ing hot amber pours onto the plat-
form, where it meets a plate of ice
and starts to blister into gleaming
bubbles.
The air thickens with heat and
the sizzling sound of the rapidly
hardening and continually breaking
crust. The molten stone slows down,
solidifying into dozens of transpar-
ent and pitch-black obsidian bub-
bles. The whole room flickers, and as
the lava cools it sends unimaginably
thin transparent threads f loating
slowly above our heads. This light-
as-air volcanic glass is known in Ice-
land as nornahár, or “witch’s hair,”
and indeed, it does seem magical.
Home baked lava
You might think baking cinnamon
rolls would be a more traditional
path for a small family business.
Well, not in Iceland. Here, families
bake genuine lava. The hard-work-
ing couple behind the Icelandic lava
show is Júlíus and Ragnhildur, along
with their three boys.
The idea for this venture was a
puzzle that has been clicking to-
gether piece by piece since 2010. The
grain of inspiration that started it
all was the vivid impressions from
the er uption of Fi m mvörðu há ls
(the area between the glaciers Ey-
jafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull in
southern Iceland) in 2010. Among
many other Icelanders, Júlíus and
Ragn hildur were overtaken w ith
curiosity, and went to witness the
eruption first-hand. They were as-
tounded by the contrast of flaming
lava streaming onto white, melting
icefields; the thunderous sounds
and overwhelming heat. “It was like
nothing we’d ever seen before,” says
Ragnhildur.
This sparked the idea. What if
this mesmerising experience could
be brought to people in controlled
conditions? Although many would
like to see an eruption, most people
aren’t able to schedule their lives
around volcanic forecasts, nor jump
on a plane to visit an eruption site
filled with molten lava and poison-
ous fumes.
The breakthrough
In the following years, the idea was
set aside when Júlíus and Ragnhil-
dur’s son s were diag nosed w ith
autism. But, as Ragnhildur says:
“Seeing our boys overcome so many
challenges and grim expectations,
we were inspired not to give up.”
Travel
Distance from
Reykjavík:
186km
Car provided by:
gocarrental.is
How to get there:
Drive Route One
South to Vík
Find out more:
icelandiclavashow.
com
46The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 16— 2018
Real Lava
Flows In Vík
A visit to the brand new Icelandic Lava Show
Words: Signe Smala Photos: Art Bicnick
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