Construction on the Hallgrimskirkja Church started in 1945 and it opened in 1986. (This construction “timeline” seems to be popular here.)
It is named after an Icelandic poet/clergyman who composed The Passion Hymns. We enjoyed a brief organ presentation. The church dominates the skyline.
The stone exterior is ablaze in the evening, but we haven’t seen it well enough for a picture.
Originally a cluster of hot water tanks, the Perlan Museum opened in 1991.
It presents the geological history of Iceland within the perspective of the last 64 million years. The exhibits are very well done. They provide scientific information on the changes in the Earth and the natural and man-created impacts.
These dancers greet incoming visitors.
A chart of earthquakes of the last century starts with ‘06 San Francisco quake.
This is a section of a 7 - 10 million-years-old sequoia, the same variety as in Northern California today
and this 1300-years-old section from a tree in California and was a gift to honor the 1100-years anniversary of Iceland.
We went into an Ice Cave made of real snow where Anna Lee sat on an ice throne.
A video on glaciers showed their rapid diminishment. The section on Mendenhall reminded us of a trip to Alaska over thirty years ago and how much more ice we saw then. The photos show the decline of the glacier over a ten year period.
The virtual aquarium shows how different types of fish of the same species look depending on what depth of water they live in and what they eat.
The Latrabjarg Cliff is filled with bird models perched with their eggs and young.
The Planetarium Show presents the mythology of the Northern lights and the lead “star “ is named Icelandic Nature.
We hope to get a real view of the lights later in the trip.
We enjoyed lunch on the Observation Deck. The view of the city from the deck is magnificent. The tall building on the left in the top photo is our hotel.
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