Hofskirkja church, Iceland - a photo on Flickriver

            The Hofskirkja church is a lovely little church located at the south coast of Iceland in the Öræfi region near the Vatnajökull glacier. At Hof in Öræfi churches have been built for almost 700 years and a church was mentioned for the first time in annals from 1343. The Hofskirkja was dedicated to the holy Clemence according to catholic customs. The turf church is supposed to be built during the years 1883/1884 and the present church dates mainly from these years. Around the wooden framework the exterior walls of the Hofskirkja were piled up of stones and on the roof the tiles, or flat stones, were covered with turf. Both gables count two windows with six windowpanes each in addition to one window with two windowpanes on the westside gable.
The church is the last turf church that was built and designed according to the traditional principles of architecture and is one of the six turf churches that still exist in Iceland and are preserved as cultural heirlooms.  In fact the church is a peculiar mixture of ancient architecture and the type of architecture that was common during the days the church was built. For example the gable at the eastern side is according to ancient architecture whilst the building style of the vault over the choire is similar to the architecture of wooden churches built in the 19th century.
In the middle of the last century the condition of the Hofskirkja had become very poor. The church was rebuilt in 1953/1954 with the condition that the ownership would go to the National Museum.  The church was consecrated again in 1954. The church has been restored several times since then.

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Taken on: June 16, 2015

Tags:

Hofskirkja

Iceland

south-iceland

kirkjur

churches

turf church

turf churchestorfkirkja

culture

Öræfi

Oraefi

Þjóðmynjasafn

National Museum

Fred Schalk « less

Sets appears in: • Summer Pictures of Iceland

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Camera: Canon EOS 500D, f/13.0, 1/80 sec, 16mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 500D
Aperture:	f/13.0
Exposure Time:	0.013 sec (1/80)
Focal Length:	16mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Partial
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 7.0
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