Iceland Photo Archive

Children skiing on the outskirts of Reykjavík, 1974

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:26:00 +0000

Photo: DV/Unknown

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Reykjavík, 1950s

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:49:00 +0000

A photo of Austurstræti, one of Reykjavík’s oldest streets, taken at Christmas in the mid- to late 1950s. The cars on the right are parked where the Hótel Ísland used to stand. When it opened in 1882 it was only the fifth hotel ever built in Reykjavík. (The first one opened in 1853 and closed ten years later.) In 1944, Hótel Ísland was destroyed in a fire. In the sixties the parking lot that replaced it became a gathering place for the city’s youth, and got a particularly hard-to-translate nickname, Hallærisplanið. (“Uncool Square” and “Insufficiency Park” come close, but not really). In the mid-nineties the city built a new square called Ingólfstorg to replace what were by then parking lots on both sides of the street. It’s still popular with young people (skaters have replaced punks and hipsters). It’s a place for concerts and other events in summer and in winter it has occasionally been turned into a skating rink.

Photo: Óskar Gíslason

Skating on Tjörnin in the 60s

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:39:00 +0000

Depending on where you come from, Tjörnin is either a small lake or a big pond. Calling it a lake might confuse people because “Tjörnin” really just means “The Pond”. Once upon a time a small brook used to flow from it to the sea, through what is still known as Lækjargata (Brook Street). In summer it’s a favorite hangout of ducks and geese, and in winter, like in this photo from the 1960s, you can sometimes also see humans there. In the early 1990s the city built its new city hall, the Ráðhús in the north-west corner of Tjörnin.

Photo: Sveinn Þormóðsson

A Beetle in the snow, 1960s

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:33:00 +0000

A VW Beetle crawls down a snowy and hard-to-pronounce street in Reykjavík. Note the Christmas decorations.

Photo: Sigurður Úlfarsson

Keep calm and carry on, 1965

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:26:46 +0000

An Icelandic television crew at the creation of the volcanic island of Syrtlingur in 1965. (Anything happening now?)

Photo: Ari Kárason

Espresso arrives in Reykjavík, 1958

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 14:24:07 +0000

The first espresso bar opened in Reykjavík on 9 January 1958. From a newspaper that day: “The coffee there is made with an Italian method using steam pressure and is supposed to be very strong and uplifting.”

Photo: Andrés Kolbeinsson

The invention of rock and roll, 1900-1915

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:06:00 +0000

Sigríður Einarsdóttir Magnússon playing guitar in Reykjavík at the beginning of the twentieth century, long before Iceland Airwaves. On her left is a spinning machine known in Icelandic as a “rokkur”.

Three young men enjoy a cold beverage in Reykjavík, late 1930s

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:13:00 +0000

Alcoholic beer was banned in Iceland from 1901 to 1989.

Photo: Einar Einarsson

Prime Minister's Office in Lækjargata, Reykjavík, 1925

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:05:00 +0000

Note the petrol pump between the cars on the left.

Photo: Jón Árnason

Reykjavík Harbor, 1930s

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:03:00 +0000

“I feel like a lot of Icelandic musicians are trying to do something original, or at least original to the Icelandic scene. When there’s so many bands in such a small place, no one wants to sound like the band who lives next to you. I think also a big part of the quality is people are influenced by each other and there’s really no way of making a living off music in Iceland so people do it for other reasons, I guess.”
— Sindri Már Sigfússon, also known as Sin Fang, in an interview with Death and Taxes on 25 January 2010.

Photo: Karl Christian Nielsen

The President of Iceland takes the front seat, early 1970s

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:01:00 +0000

Kristján Eldjárn, President of the Iceland from 1968-1980, in the front seat of a limousine in the early 1970s.

Photo: Bjarnleifur Bjarnleifsson

Young men walking over Austurvöllur, 1962

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:27:00 +0000

Reservoir Dogs in Reykjavík, 1962. Parliament building visible behind them, on the left.

Photo: Andrés Kolbeinsson

Practice at the Elding Motorcycle Club in Reykjavík, 1961

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:02:00 +0000

Elding means “Lightning”.

Photo: Gunnar Rúnar Ólafsson