Day 14: Reykjavik

June 7 - Into town for more museums. Start out at the Natural History Museum, which is small but well laid out with examples of many endemic animals and some geologic information. From here split up and the three of us go to the National Museum of Iceland. This proves to be an amazing place, partitioned by historical period.

One of the prize early pieces, a statue of Þór (Thor), A Viking deity worshipped on Iceland by the earliest settlers, along with the other gods of the pagan Norse pantheon. Given that Icelanders gradually converted to Christianity by 1000 CE, it is possible that statues like this ended up being dual use: that is, having the image of a pagan god but used to symbolize Christ after the conversion. Once the church grew in power, symbols like this would be destroyed in favor of the standard Christian representations.

An askar, a traditional container for food in Icelandic homes up into the early 20th century. Each person in a household had their personal askar for mealtimes. We first saw these on Day 5 at the Glaumbær Farm and Museum.

The first Icelandic flag, called Hvítbláinn, seen for the first time in a parade in 1877.

Iceland was de-facto ruled by Denmark for centuries. It was only in 1874 that the Danish government allowed Iceland legislative powers over internal affairs. But Icelanders, having been pushing for complete independence through much of the 19th century, weren’t satisfied with these conditions. The above flag, deemed illegal by Danish authorities, began flying as a symbol of their struggle. Blue symbolizes the sky, and white symbolizes Iceland’s glaciers. The cross represents Christianity. This flag garnered a great deal of attention in 1913, when one flying on an Icelandic vessel was seized by a military ship from Denmark.

It took World War II and the German army's occupation of Denmark to sever Iceland's obligations to its colonial master. On June 7, 1944, Iceland became fully independent in internal and external affairs. The flag, however, was modified to include a red band symbolizing volcanic activity.

A lot more can be said about the displays in this museum, but I will leave it at that. We drive to the Hallgrímskirkja and meet up with Mike and Debbie.

Statue of Leif Eiricsson in front of the Hallgrímskirkja. The word ‘Althing’ references the annual council held in what is now Þingvellir National Park (see Day 2).

From here, return to our apartment. Mike and Debbie drive off to the airport to catch their flight back to the US. We, now carless, hang out in the apartment, rest, and pack, since we have to be out of here early morning for our flight tomorrow.