Landakotskirkja – Basilica of Christ the King
The same architect who built Hallgrímskirkja designed this one without a spire — and that flat top is the whole point.
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Iceland's only Catholic cathedral was raised in 1929 as a Neo-Gothic answer to a growing congregation, built on a farmstead French priests purchased in the early 19th century. Guðjón Samúelsson gave it a deliberately flat roof rather than the soaring spire he used elsewhere, making it quietly distinctive in western Reykjavík. Much of the interior sculpture arrived from a single Dutch workshop across three decades.
What to look for
- The flat-topped roofline — a conscious break from Samúelsson's spired work at Hallgrímskirkja and Akureyrarkirkja
- The altars, pulpit, and timpan by Atelier J.W. Ramakers & Sons of Geleen, Holland, delivered in stages between 1905 and 1929
- The St. Joseph altar (1905) and Maria altar (1928) — among the earliest Ramakers pieces inside
Services are held in Icelandic, Polish, and English; the cathedral sits in the western part of central Reykjavík.
Landakotskirkja – Basilica of Christ the King 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.