Hallgrimskirkja

The Hallgrimskirkja rises above the city in a jagged silhouette of basalt columns, its concrete tower tapering into a point that mimics the volcanic landscape of Iceland. Architect Gudjon Samuelsson designed the church in nineteen thirty-seven to evoke the lava flows shaped by nature. While it took over forty years to complete, the structure became the home of a massive pipe organ with five thousand pipes. Its builder, Johannes Klais, spent three years fine-tuning the sound to fill the immense stone nave.