Harpa Concert Hall
A half-built steel shell abandoned during Iceland's financial crisis — then the government paid to finish it alone. The result is Reykjavík's first purpose-built concert hall.
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Designed by Henning Larsen Architects with Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, Harpa's coloured geometric glass panels reference Iceland's basalt landscape. Construction started in 2007, stalled when the financial crisis hit, and resumed only after a government bailout of the half-built frame. It opened 4 May 2011 with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy. The orchestra is still based here.
What to look for
- Geometric glass panels in multiple colours — the façade is a direct reference to Iceland's basalt landscape
- The steel framework visible beneath and through the glass skin
- The main hall, home to the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and future home of the Icelandic National Opera
Check harpa.is for Iceland Symphony Orchestra concert listings; the building is on the Austurhöfn waterfront.
Harpa Concert Hall is one of 17 sights worth the detour in Reykjavik, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Reykjavik pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Reykjavik
- HallgrímskirkjaA 74-metre church modeled on Iceland's volcanic basalt columns — 41 years in the making, visible from nearly anywhere in the city.
- Icelandic Phallological MuseumOne exhibit needs a magnifying glass; another once measured 170 cm. Both are real.
- LaugardalsvöllurThe city that dreamed of a sporting venue in 1871 — when Reykjavík held just 2,000 people — finally opened a football stadium here in 1959.
- National Museum of IcelandA carved wooden door where a knight slays a dragon and gains a lion as his companion — and that is the headline object.
- Bessastaðir — Presidential ResidenceSnorri Sturluson farmed here in the 1200s. Turkish slave raiders attacked in 1627. Today the president of Iceland calls it home.
- Imagine Peace TowerA column of light rises 4,000 metres into the Arctic sky from a wishing well on a small island — Yoko Ono's memorial to John Lennon, running on geothermal power.