Thingvellir Church Cemetery - Thingvllir, Iceland
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 64° 15.447 W 021° 07.275
27W E 494124 N 7125708
A church was built here soon after Christianity was accepted in Iceland around 1000, and the cemetery was established in 1939.
Waymark Code: WMN0ZH
Location: Iceland
Date Posted: 12/04/2014
Views: 7
This church is located in Iceland's historic Thingvllir National Park...site of the founding of Iceland's Parliament, the Althing. A small cemetery is beside this small church.
The Park is free to visit. The church is open daily for visitors although there is no sign indicating that regular services are still provided. No doubt that the Church IS still used at least for special events like weddings and funerals. The church has a small cemetery beside it.
This website (
visit link) adds:
"According to documented sources, a church was built at Thingvellir shortly after the acceptance of Christianity in the year 1000. King Olaf the portly of Norway sent wood and a church bell as a present for a church at Thingvellir in the year 1015 according to Snorri Sturluson's history of the Norwegian kings, Heimskringla.
The oldest cartulary of the church dates back to the latter part of the 14th century when it was dedicated to Olaf the wholly king of Norway. The present church was built and consecrated in 1859 and a new tower was built in 1907. It contains three bells, one old, another from 1697 and the third one was added on the 17th of June 1944, when the Icelandic republic was proclaimed on the Parliamentary Plains.
The church was repaired in 1973 and 1983. The pulpit dates back to 1683 and the altarpiece to 1834. In 1899, it was sold to the British artist, Disney Leith, who gave it to her church on the Isle of Wight. In 1974, the altarpiece was brought back to its church and was put by the side of the larger one painted by the Danish artist Anker Lund. In 1939, a round shaped honorary cemetery was consecrated behind the church. Only two poets rest there."