Skálholtsdómkirkja

Skálholtsdómkirkja was consecrated in 1963, the tenth church to stand on the site; the first went up shortly after Iceland accepted Christianity around the year 1000. Before it was built the ground was excavated under Kristján Eldjárn, later President of Iceland, and the dig turned up the stone coffin of Bishop Páll Jónsson, buried in 1211. Hörður Bjarnason, the state architect, drew it cruciform with a transept and side aisles, taking as his model the church Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson raised in 1650, whose altar, candlesticks and pulpit still stand inside. Gerður Helgadóttir's stained glass takes its subjects from the history of the see and from the Passion, and Nína Tryggvadóttir's mosaic altarpiece was set in place in 1966. The organ is a Frobenius. Concerts have been given here every summer since 1975.