Reykholt Church

[Manfred M]

Reykholt is a small village with a population of around 60 that is situated north-east of Reykjavik, Iceland. This church is the one building in town that catches your eye as you drive by. One of the locals told us that we would recognize it becuase it sort of looked like a rocket ship.




It's hard to believe that this tiny place was once one of the intellectual centres of Iceland, as it was home to Snorri Sturluson. The name probably means absolutely nothing to most people, but he is wrote the Prose Edda or Younger Edda. It was written a a couple of hundred years after Iceland gave up the Norse gods; and so all of the stories of Odin, Thor and Loki that we still know about today, are a result of him writing them down in the late 12th or early 13th Century. His house stood quite near to this church.

[rpcrowe]

Very neat image... For some reason, although the areas don't look alike, the light in Iceland seems to remind my of the light in the Greek Islands...

[jeeperman]

Interesting image and story Manfred. I like the colors here, the color pp compliments the shapes and angles of the structure.

[Manfred M]

Richard - the foreground, i.e. where I took the picture from is cemetary grounds. You can see the graves starting up on the left side of the image. The area in the background is farmland and the begining of wilderness, so no,, the areas don't look quite alike. The church building itself was interesting architecturally. The light was around 11:00 in the morning, mid-July. I think I can guarantee that the Greek islands were a bit warmer though.

Thanks Paul - I often try to take buildings in a straight on view; I somehow gravitate to orthographic projections views. but getting one straight down is a bit tough.

[jeeperman]

I am not usually one for straight on or even nearly straight on, but I find in this image the primary colors and geometric qualities go hand in hand. Lines in the grass, triangles, squares, rectangles and a circle....what more could you ask for? lol All that structure vs a completely wispy non conforming sky.. Nice, I like it.

[Manfred M]

I am not usually one for straight on or even nearly straight on, but I find in this image the primary colors and geometric qualities go hand in hand. Lines in the grass, triangles, squares, rectangles and a circle....what more could you ask for? lol All that structure vs a completely wispy non conforming sky.. Nice, I like it.

I couldn't agree more. The weather was nice as well. Iceland is a bit of a misnomer, in the summer is should have been called "Rainland", because it seemed to cloud over and rain every other day. The downside of being in a maritime climate. The picture would not have worked nearly as well on an overcast, rainy day.

[ChrisH]

Your right Manfred - this church is very architectualy interesting. It is triangular and simplistic (it reminds me of the building blocks I had as a child). The building sits well in it's rather stark setting. Nice one.

[Mike Buckley]

You brought out the architectural interest very nicely. I notice the nod to the turf-roof style and the blending of the old with the new: the stone fence lining the walkways is topped with grass.

[JimFred]

Interesting architecture, to say the least. I love the colors, the lighting, and the clarity of this shot. Is is possible to get a bad shot in Iceland?

[Mike Buckley]

Is is possible to get a bad shot in Iceland?

Yes. Which of the hundreds that I deleted would you like as proof?