Reykjavík Cathedral (
Icelandic: ''Dómkirkjan í Reykjavík'';
Danish: ''Reykjavik Domkirke'') is a
cathedral church
A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
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 seat of the
Bishop of Iceland and
mother church
Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral church, or ...
of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, as well as the parish church of the old city centre and environs. It is located at
Austurvöllur
Austurvöllur () is a public square in Reykjavík, Iceland. 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 ...
, and next to it is
Alþingishúsið
(, ''The Parliament House'') is a classical 19th-century structure which stands by Austurvöllur in central Reykjavík, Iceland. It houses , the Icelandic parliament. The building was designed by Ferdinand Meldahl and built using hewn Icelandic ...
(the parliament house). Since Iceland's parliament, the
Alþingi
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 la ...
, was resurrected in 1845, each session of parliament has begun with a Mass at the cathedral, and from there the dean of the cathedral leads the members of parliament to the parliament house.
History and architecture
The cathedral was constructed in 1787 from a design by royal building inspector
Andreas Hallander
Andreas Hallander (13 November 1755 – 3 April 1828) was a Danish master carpenter and architect who made a significant contribution to the city of Copenhagen. Together with the buildings of Johan Martin Quist, his classically styled apartment h ...
. This building was demolished in 1847 to make way for a somewhat larger church building.
Furnishings
The organ boasts three manuals and thirty-one independent voices and was built in Berlin by the
Karl Schuke Berliner Orgelbauwerkstatt.
See also
*
List of cathedrals in Iceland
References
*Hjörleifur Stefánsson, Guðný Gerður Gunnarsdóttir and Hjörleifur Stefánsson. 1987. ''Kvosin – Byggingarsaga miðbæjar Reykjavíkur''. Torfusamtökin, Reykjavík.
External links
*
Website of Reykjavík Cathedral(in Icelandic)
(in Icelandic)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reykjavik Cathedral
Churches in Reykjavík
Cathedrals in Iceland
Church of Iceland