Explore Reykjavík

Reykjavík Cathedral is the Lutheran cathedral on Austurvöllur square, built in 1787–1796 to a neoclassical design by Andreas Kirkerup and enlarged by Winstrup in 1847–1848. It is the seat of the Bishop of Iceland, and every session of parliament opens with a service here before members walk to the parliament house next door.

Hafnarhús is the harbourside branch of the Reykjavík Art Museum, in a former office and warehouse of the Port of Reykjavík built in 1933–39 to designs by Sigurður Guðmundsson. Converted by Studio Granda in 1998–2000, it shows changing exhibitions of contemporary art and a permanent display of works by the pop artist Erró.

Harpa is the concert hall and conference centre on the old harbour in Reykjavík, opened in May 2011 and home to the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Henning Larsen Architects designed it with the artist Olafur Eliasson, whose facade of geometric glass panels recalls basalt columns. Its foyers, shops and restaurants are open outside concerts.

The Settlement Exhibition lies beneath Aðalstræti 16 in central Reykjavík and is part of Reykjavík City Museum. At its centre is the excavated ruin of a Viking Age hall, found in 2001 and lived in around 930–1000, beside a wall dated to about 871. Finds from digs in the city are shown, and a passage leads on to Aðalstræti 10.

The National Gallery of Iceland holds the national collection of Icelandic art. Founded in Copenhagen in 1884, it has occupied since 1987 a former cold-storage building of 1916 by Guðjón Samúelsson at Fríkirkjuvegur 7, beside Tjörnin pond, where four halls on two floors show its collection and changing exhibitions.

Hallgrímskirkja is the Lutheran parish church on the Skólavörðuholt hill in Reykjavík, designed by state architect Guðjón Samúelsson and built between 1945 and 1986. Its 74.5-metre concrete tower, modelled on basalt columns, has a lift to a viewing deck, and a statue of Leif Erikson stands in front.

The National Museum of Iceland, founded in 1863, has occupied its building on Suðurgata in Reykjavík since 1950. Its permanent exhibition, Making of a Nation, traces Icelandic history from the settlement to the present with about 2,000 objects, among them the carved medieval church door from Valþjófsstaður.

Whales of Iceland is a natural history museum in the Grandi harbour district of Reykjavík, opened in 2015. Its hall holds life-size models of 23 whale, dolphin and porpoise species recorded in Icelandic waters, alongside skeletons, baleen, interactive displays on whale biology and a small cinema.

Perlan is a glass dome set on six hot-water storage tanks on Öskjuhlíð hill in Reykjavík, designed by architect Ingimundur Sveinsson and opened in 1991. It houses a nature museum with a man-made ice cave, a planetarium show about the northern lights and a replica of the Látrabjarg bird cliff, and an observation deck runs around the dome.