ICELAND

Iceland: Húsavíkurkirkja Church in Húsavík, North Iceland, in need of major repair

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Húsavíkurkirkja* church in Húsavík, North Iceland, is in need of major repair. Many people consider it to be the most beautiful church in Iceland. It was designed in the so-called Swiss chalet style by Iceland’s first architect, Rögnvaldur Ólafsson, who had been educated in Denmark. Not only was he an excellent architect, but a good carpenter as well, and the church was considered a major success. It was built in the shape of a cross, using wood imported from Norway, and consecrated in 1907.

Since then, a lot of water has passed under the bridge, and now the wood in the church tower and elsewhere is rotting, Morgunblaðið reports. Repairs are badly needed, but they will be costly, and the church council is wondering how to fund the project. The congregation hall, designed, too, by Rögnvaldur Ólafsson and located next to the church, is in need of repair as well.

“Every crossbeam on the outside of the church tower is rotten and in need of replacement,” states Guðbergur Rafn Ægisson, caretaker of the church. “Many decorative trims are badly damaged from rot and need to be replaced.” The list goes on and on, and it is clear that extensive repairs are needed.

While the church windows are in a relatively good condition, those of the congregation hall are leaking and in need of replacement. On the latter building, all the corrugated iron needs to be replaced – on the walls as well as on the roof.

The church council met in January to discuss the problem and agreed that tens of millions of Icelandic krónur were likely needed for repairs. The idea of founding an association in support of the church was discussed. Such an association would then seek funding from friends of the church, including former residents of Húsavík. The possibility of the municipality’s participation was discussed as well.

Much is at stake, because for more than a century, the church has been the town’s pride and center of attraction.

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* The Húsavíkurkirkja is an early 20th century church in Húsavík, Iceland. The wooden church was built in 1907 by Icelandic architect Rögnvaldur Ólafsson, who designed the building in line with the Swiss chalet style.The church hosts marriages, baptisms, funerals, and an annual general meeting.

Iceland: Iceland’s COVID-19 situation is unique

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Iceland is in a unique position compared to other countries in terms of the number of COVID-19 cases, mbl.is reports.

According to weekly figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), updated yesterday, the 14-day incidence per 100,000 inhabitants in Iceland stands at 10.92. The second lowest incidence is in Greece, or 77.86.

Just like last week, Iceland is the only country in Europe classified as green, as are parts of Norway and the Åland Islands. The Faroe Islands are not included in the statistics, since separate figures for them are not reported. The European country with the highest 14-day incidence per 100,000 inhabitants is Portugal, with an incidence of 1,652.47.

The most recent figures for Iceland, updated this morning at 11 am on covid.is, show the 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants standing at 10.9. Only one new domestic case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Iceland yesterday, and the person diagnosed was already in quarantine.

This was only the third confirmed domestic case in eight days. Two active infections were confirmed at second border screening yesterday.

Thirteen persons are in the hospital at present with COVID-19. A total of 4,855 vaccinations have been completed in Iceland.

 

Iceland: Reykjavík Winter Lights Festival opens today

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – The annual Reykjavík Winter Lights Festival opens today and continues through Sunday, Morgunblaðið reports. Its format this year is different from that of previous years, due to COVID-19-related restrictions. Therefore, there will be no formal opening ceremony or crowded events, such as normally have been held at the city’s museums and swimming pools.

Instead, the winter lights walking path will be the main attraction. The map, which you can view HERE, shows the location of 23 light installations that will be projected onto buildings and windows, as well as alleys, between the hours of 6 pm and 9 pm every night of the festival. The path extends from Hallgrímskirkja church to Austurvöllur square and all the way to Reykjavík City Hall.

The City of Reykjavík and ON Power, in cooperation with Iceland Design and Architecture, recently held a light installation competition, and the top two works will be featured at the festival.

The winner of the competition was a work by Katerina Blahutova and Þorsteinn Eyfjörð Þórarinsson, which will be on display in the park by the Einar Jónsson Art Museum. The other work is by Litten Nystrøm and Har­aldur Karls­son. It will be projected onto Hallgrímskirkja church.

The Reykjavík Art Walk mobile app is designed to help you locate and enjoy outdoor sculptures in Reykjavík. It not only provides you with a map of the city, showing the location of the sculptures, but provides you, too, with excellent information about the works of art and the artists. For more information, see HERE.

For more information about the Winter Lights Festival, see HERE.

Iceland: Screaming Tourists Campaign receives Digiday Award

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – The marketing campaign Let it Out, released by Inspired Iceland last summer, received a Digiday Award January 28 for the best creative campaign/program, mbl.is reports.

M&C Saatchi & Peel wrote the script for the campaign and did the creative work, while the production company Skot handled filming and production. The campaign was directed by Samúel Bjarki Pétursson and Gunnar Páll Ólafsson, and the score was composed by Úlfur Eldjárn.

The Digiday Content Marketing Awards annually recognize the companies and campaigns using content to modernize media and marketing.

Promote Iceland released the campaign in July of last year to engage people most likely to travel as soon as the lockdowns, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were lifted. Prospective tourists were offered a chance to release COVID-related stress by recording their screams on a phone or computer and, through a web camera, listen to them in Icelandic landscape at different locations.

“Understanding audience sentiment is critical to getting the right message across,” the selection committee’s statement reads, “and there was never a more sensitive time to ensure context and positive alignment than during the sweeping changes of the pandemic. With lives upended and economies in turmoil, Promote Iceland first analyzed its cohorts carefully and then tapped an emotional and creative vein while mitigating the risk of striking a wrong chord with people not yet ready to think about travel.”

You can watch the video HERE.

The second part of the campaign is underway, where you’re invited to ‘joyscroll’ 22.7 meters of uplifting material from Iceland. See for yourself HERE.

Featured imgage: From the video. Screenshot/Promote Iceland. 

Iceland: Guðlaug pool nominated for Mies van der Rohe Award

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – The natural pool Guðlaug on Langisandur beach, in Akranes, West Iceland, has been nominated for the 2022 Mies van der Rohe Award – the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, mbl.is reports. The prize is awarded every other year by the EU and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona.

It recognizes and commends excellence in European architecture in conceptual, social, cultural, technical and constructive terms. In April, 2022, the winners will be announced.

Guðlaug was designed by Basalt architects, while Mannvit was in charge of engineering design.

Admission to the pool is free, and it has proven ideal for sea swimmers. The pool opened to the public on December 8, 2018, and was visited by about 30,000 guests in 2019.

The structure includes an observation deck, reminiscent of the prow of a ship, a warm pool that enjoys shelter from the wind, and a shallow pool, mixed with seawater. The view from the pool of Faxaflói bay and Reykjavík is spectacular.

In the video below, you can see, step by step, how the project developed.

Featured image: From Guðlaug, before COVID-19 spread to Iceland. (Photo/Facebook)

Iceland: 22,000 tremors in Reykjanes peninsula, Southwest Iceland last year

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Some parts of Iceland tremble more than others, and last year, a total of 22,000 tremors registered on the Reykjanes* peninsula, Southwest Iceland, Morgunblaðið reports. Most of those were less than 3 in magnitude. This continuous seismic activity began in the town of Grindavík on January 26 last year. This was followed by an inflation of the surface – first by a couple of centimeter, then more, presumably due to magma accumulating under the surface.

“There is more seismic activity on the Reykjanes peninsula than we’ve seen before,” states Kristín Jónsdóttir, earthquake hazards coordinator at the Icelandic Met Office. It is the largest seismic activity since digital measurements began in 1991.

The activity has for the most part been concentrated in the area from the southwestern tip of Reykjanes to Kleifarvatn lake in the east, but during the past few months, the activity and source of the tremors have been moving farther east, toward Krýsuvík. On October 20 last year, the source of an earthquake of magnitude 5.6 was not far from Djúpavatn lake.

The tectonic plate boundary of the Reykjanes Ridge runs from west to east across the Reykjanes peninsula. This is where the North-American tectonic plate meets the Eurasian one, sparking the idea for the so-called Bridge Between Continents near Sandvík, popular among tourists.

On average, the plates move away from each other by about one cm a year, but during the past semesters, the movement in certain areas in Reykjanes has been up to 16 cm (6 in).

Kristín assumes that pressure is building up in the earth between Kleifarvatn lake and Bláfjöll mountains, which can only be released in a large earthquake. Two such, of magnitude 6.3 and 6, occurred in 1929 and 1968. Their source was near Brennisteinsfjöll mountains, east of Kleifarvatn lake.

Björn Oddsson, geophysicist and program director for the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management, states that the Reykjanes peninsula is constantly being monitored. A phase of uncertainty (the lowest alert phase) will remain in place there while seismic activity is above average.

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*Reykjanes is a small headland on the southwestern tip of Reykjanesskagi in Iceland. The region is about 9 km (5.6 mi) from Iceland’s international airport.

There was a prolonged period of constant volcanic activity on the peninsula, the Reykjanes Fires, from the 10th to the 13th century; between 1210 and 1240 about 50 square km of land were covered in lava. The area is fed by five volcanic systems; geological evidence suggests that they seem to activate in a coordinated way about every 1,000 years.

In the twelve weeks from 21 January 2020, after centuries of relative inactivity, there were more than 8,000 earthquakes and about 10 cm of land uplift due to underground magma intrusions on the peninsula, leading to concerns of a new phase of activity which could cause disruption for centuries.

As the name means “smoking peninsula” connected to volcanic activity, there are also other peninsulas by this name in Iceland, e.g. the peninsula of Reykjanes in Ísafjarðardjúp.

Featured image: Iceland (Pexels)

Iceland: Icelandic man becomes first in world to receive double arm and shoulder transplant

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — Icelander Guðmundur Felix Grétarsson became the first patient in the world to receive a double-arm-and-shoulder transplant, undergoing the groundbreaking surgery in Lyon, France.

The operation, which took place in mid-January, lasted a whopping 14-hours and was comprised of four surgical teams to minimize the transition time between the donor and Grétarsson, stated The Guardian.

According to doctors, the outlook for the right arm to become functional was higher than that of the left due to the shoulder on the left-side needing a complete rebuild. It was also noted that Grétarsson would need to go into at least three years of rehabilitation for him to build up the strength in his arms and for the nerves to grow.

Almost exactly 23 years ago, Grétarsson, an electrician at the time, was assigned to work on a high-voltage power line when an 11,000-volt surge stuck him. The result of the accident left him in a three-month coma with multiple fractures and internal injuries, with surgeons eventually needing to amputate Grétarsson’s arms and shoulders completely.

Since 2013, Grétarsson has been living in Lyon when he received the news he could receive a transplant. The Icelander had been in contact with Professor Jean-Michel Dubernard, who became the first doctor to perform a successful hand transplant on a patient in 1998. Grétarsson had been on the waiting list for surgery for five years.

 

Iceland: Interest in building film studio in Iceland

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet – Icelandic contractors and international investors have shown interest in building a film studio in Iceland, Morgunblaðið reports. Leifur Björn Dagfinnsson, managing director of the film production company True North, states that such a project could substantially increase the country’s income from film production.

When asked about a potential location for a film studio, Leifur responds it would have to be in the capital area – no more than a 10-15 minute drive from the city center. He adds that the largest streaming services have looked at conditions here, which they find ideal in many ways.

“We’ve spoken to foreign parties interested in investing in these kinds of projects in Iceland,” he states. A few lots have been looked at, and to begin with, the size of the studio would preferably be around 6,000 m2 (64,600 sq ft), or twice the size of Reykjavík Studios. That way, larger projects could be worked on, or more than one at a time. The cost could run around ISK 1.5 billion (EUR 9.5 million; USD 11.6 million). In the long run, more studios would have to be built, he states.

Leifur believes the investment would be very profitable, creating numerous jobs. He explains that film studios in the UK and Ireland are booked up, creating demand for services in Iceland. In addition, the rate of reimbursement for foreign film production in Iceland will be increased from 25 to 35 percent, which is in line with the increasing rate of reimbursement in other European countries.

Leifur states that there is strong interest in Iceland. The country has beautiful film locations to offer, he notes, and a shorter travel time between hotels and a film studio than do most other countries.

Turning point in Iceland-Greenland relations emerge with new report

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — Several propositions to strengthen relations between Iceland and Greenland have emerged as part of a new report officially handed in by the former Icelandic Minister of Foreign Affairs, Össur Skarphéðinsson.

The report, “Iceland and Greenland’s cooperation in the new Arctic”, is seen as a turning point on strengthening the communication between the two countries. “It’s always been important, but now it’s vital. There’s no doubt, and anyone who reads the report will see that it’s a complete work including 99 proposals,” commented Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson, the current Icelandic Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The report is set to be presented by Þórðarson and Steen Lynge, the Minister of Health and Infrastructure of Greenland, at the Arctic roundtable next autumn. The pair will work on a framework agreement between the countries based on goals set out in certain cooperative fields, including business-relations, air travel, and fishing industries.

“I find it enormously exciting that the Icelandic government has dedicated a lot of resources, researched opportunities, and prepared a large number of recommendations for increased cooperation between Greenland and Iceland. Guðlaugur and I held a virtual meeting where he presented the background and the report, and I am very much looking forward to the upcoming work and the implementation of the many good intentions and recommendations that the report contains,” explained Lynge.

 

 

Iceland: Holuhraun set to be home for testing of new Mars exploration drones

By
Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — Holuhraun, the lava field in the Central Highlands of Iceland, is set to be the test site for RAVEN, a USD 3.1 million project funded by NASA, labeled as a next-generation Mars exploration concept.

According to SpaceRef, RAVEN is a new concept combining rovers and unmanned drones to explore previously inaccessible regions of Mars. Christopher Hamilton of the University of Arizona and an international team of scientists will test out these new technologies in an area of volcanic terrain, similar to those observed on Mars.

Project RAVEN was one out of four proposals picked out from a list of 48 competing for funding from NASA’s Planetary Science and Technology Through Analog Research program.

“What makes it especially interesting to us is that the lava was emplaced in a sandy area, which is very similar to what some Martian terrains look like,” explained Hamilton.

The location of the test site, Holuhraun, is a large lava field formed from a large fissure eruption in the ice cap Vatnajökull. This eruption occurred at the end of August 2014 and lasted for six winter months until the end of February 2015

 

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