Skálholt Cathedral ( Icelandic: ''Skálholtsdómkirkja'') is a

Church of Iceland The Church of Iceland (), officially the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland (), is the State religion, national church of Iceland. The church is Christian and professes the Lutheranism, Lutheran faith. It is a member of the Lutheran World ...

cathedral church. The church is the official church of the Bishop of Skálholt, currently Kristján Björnsson.

History

Even though the cathedral contains the seat of the

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, Skálholt is no longer a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

in its own right. The

Diocese of Skálholt The Diocese of Skálholt ( ) is a suffragan diocese of the Church of Iceland. It was the estate of the first bishop in Iceland, Isleifr Gizurarson, who became bishop in 1056. (Christianity had been formally adopted in 1000). His son, Gizurr, do ...

was dissolved in 1801, but re-established as a

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandr ...

in 1909. Thus the bishop is known as a suffragan bishop who assists the

Bishop of Iceland The following is a list of Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, Evangelical Lutheran bishops of Iceland. The first bishop of Iceland was Geir Vídalín who took office in 1801. As of 2024, 15 people have held the office of Bishop of Iceland. Li ...

. The Bishop of Skálholt is nevertheless responsible for cathedral affairs. The cornerstone of the present cathedral was laid in 1956 by Bishop

Sigurbjörn Einarsson Sigurbjörn Einarsson (30 June 1911 – 28 August 2008) was an Icelandic clergyman and theologian who served as the Bishop of Iceland (head of the Lutheran Church of Iceland) from 1959 to 1981. Early life and education Sigurbjörn was born ...

. It was built between 1956 and 1963 to commemorate the 900 years since the diocese was founded in 1056. The cathedral was consecrated in 1963. It was built on the site of all 9 previous churches that had stood on the exact site throughout the 1000 years since the establishment of the diocese. Excavations carried out on the site prior to the building of the cathedral proved this much. Excavations unearthed several headstones of various bishops of Skálholt, including a stone coffin that included the remains of one of the bishops.

Interior

The cathedral contains a total of 25 stained glass windows made by

Gerður Helgadóttir Gerður Helgadóttir (1928–1975) was an 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 cultura ...

. They are designed in an abstract manner and depict Christian symbolism and some of the medieval bishops of Skálholt. The altarpiece is the work of

Nína Tryggvadóttir Nína Tryggvadóttir (born Jónína Tryggvadóttir; March 16, 1913 – June 18, 1968) was an Icelandic artist. She was one of Iceland's most important abstract expressionist artists and one of very few Icelandic female artists of her generation. ...

and depicts Christ coming into the cathedral with the landscape behind depicting Iceland. The pulpit dates from the 17th century and is the one used by Bishop

Brynjólfur Sveinsson Brynjólfur Sveinsson (14 September 1605 – 5 August 1675) served as the Lutheran Bishop of the see of Skálholt in Iceland. His main influence has been on modern knowledge of Old Norse literature. Brynjólfur is also known for his support ...

in 1650."Skálholt Cathedral"
''Skálholt''. Retrieved on 14 August 2017.

References

External links

* Skálholtskirkjur eru kirkjur þær, sem staðið hafa og sú kirkja sem enn stendur í Skálholti; is.wikipedia.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Skálholt Cathedral Church of Iceland Cathedrals in Iceland 20th-century Lutheran churches Churches completed in 1963

History

Interior

See also

References

External links