Austurvöllur () is a public square in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. The square is a popular gathering place for the citizens of Reykjavík, and especially during good weather due to the prevalence of cafés on Vallarstræti and Pósthússtræti. It has also been a focal point of protests, as it is near the

Parliament of Iceland The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (' thing fields' or 'assembly fields'), about east of what lat ...

. The square contains a large statue of

Jón Sigurðsson Jón Sigurðsson (17 June 1811 – 7 December 1879) was the leader of the 19th century icelandic nationalism, Icelandic independence movement. Biography Born at Hrafnseyri, in Arnarfjörður in the Westfjords area of Iceland, he was the son of ...

, a leader of Iceland's independence movement. Austurvöllur is surrounded by Vallarstræti, Pósthússtræti, Kirkjustræti and Thorvaldsensstræti. The last of these is named after

Bertel Thorvaldsen Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen (; sometimes given as Thorwaldsen; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danes, Danish-Icelanders, Icelandic Sculpture, sculptor and medallist, medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–183 ...

, a statue of whom was, for a long time, present in the centre of Austurvöllur, now occupied by a statue of

. Located around the perimeter of the square are: (the Parliament House), Dómkirkjan (the city's oldest church), the Hotel Borg, as well as numerous cafés, restaurants and bars. In the early 18th century, Austurvöllur was much larger and stretched from Aðalstræti in the west towards the creek in the east, and from Aðalstræti in the north towards Tjörnin in the south.

Protests at Austurvöllur

There has been a tradition of protests taking place in Austurvöllur. One of the first of these such protests were the demonstrations which took in relation to the intended placement of radio towers across the country in 1905, when thousands of people gathered together in Austurvöllur.''Bændafundurinn í Reykjavík''
newspaper article Ísafold, 4 August 1905 Several years later a major riot occurred on 30 March 1949, when a resolution was adopted on Iceland's entry into

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. On this occasion

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

used teargas to disperse rioters.

''Raddir fólksins'' protests

Following the economic crisis of 2008, protests by the political organization Raddir fólksins ("Voices of the people") began in Austurvöllur on 11 October 2008, and continued to be held every Saturday until the resignation of the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Geir Haarde Geir Hilmar Haarde (; born 8 April 1951) is an Icelandic politician who served as prime minister of Iceland from 15 June 2006 to 1 February 2009, and as president of the Nordic Council in 1995. Geir was chairman of the Icelandic Independence Par ...

. The main demands of the protests were the resignations of the government, the

Central Bank of Iceland The Central Bank of Iceland (, ) is the central bank or reserve bank of Iceland. It is owned by the Icelandic government, and is administered by a governor and a seven-member supervisory board, elected by the country's parliament following ea ...

, and the board of The Financial Supervisory Authority. The demonstrations were in part identified with property destruction and violence against police officers.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Austurvollur Geography of Reykjavík Tourist attractions in Reykjavík Squares in Europe