Barren, desolate, lunar with a smidgen of Christ is how I’d describe eastern Iceland.
Tiny towns and villages line Highway 1, the main artery that runs through the region and each of these towns, comprised of a few houses, barns, and livestock all seemed to have a church.
Christianity arrived to Iceland around 795 CE but didn’t last very long. Early Christian settlers were from British and Irish stock and quickly assimilated. Within a few generations their descendants worshipped Norse gods.
Around 1000 CE, with an increase of missionaries and a desire to keep good relations with Norway, the country’s largest trading benefactor whose Christian king threatened to ban Iceland’s pagan merchants, Iceland’s leaders adopted Christianity which trickled throughout society forming the Christian Iceland we know today.
Most of the churches are simple, sparse affairs save for the country’s main church in central Reykjavik (photos of that later).
All of the churches seem to have an austerity to them – a blend of sterile lines and a windswept setting.
In other places, lonesome homes quietly break the mountainous horizon.
Check out the below photos from Iceland and as always click on the image to view full-size.
