Austurvöllur

About Austurvöllur

Austurvöllur is the old central square of Reykjavík, a lawn framed by trees and benches a short block north of Tjörnin pond, with the Parliament House on its south side. On the first sunny afternoon of spring, half of downtown seems to end up on this patch of grass.

Its name means the East Field. Back when Reykjavík was a single farm, this was its best hayfield, and the town grew up around it. Today the square is defined by its neighbors, with Alþingishúsið, the stone Parliament House where the Althing sits, and Dómkirkjan, the city's Lutheran cathedral, on the south side. Cafés, bars and the Art Deco Hótel Borg fill the other edges, which is why the benches stay busy whenever the weather allows.

The statue in the middle is Jón Sigurðsson (1811–1879), who led Iceland's 19th-century push for independence. Einar Jónsson made it for the centenary of his birth in 1911, and in 1931 it moved here from outside the Government House on Lækjargata, replacing a statue of the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. Jón's birthday, June 17, became Iceland's National Day in 1944, and every year the official ceremony takes place on Austurvöllur with a wreath laid at his feet.

Facing Parliament has made the square Iceland's natural place to protest. The biggest gatherings came during the 2008–2009 demonstrations after the banks collapsed, when crowds banged pots and pans here for weeks. In December the mood is gentler, as the lights go on in the square's large Christmas tree.

The square is public, free and open around the clock. Lækjartorg is two minutes away on foot, and the Settlement Exhibition, City Hall and Tjörnin are all within a few hundred meters, so Austurvöllur is a natural starting point for a walk through the old center. Give it 15 minutes, or an hour if you sit down with a coffee.