Strandarkirkja Church

About Strandarkirkja Church

Strandarkirkja is a small white church at Strönd in Selvogur, on the south coast of the Reykjanes Peninsula in the municipality of Ölfus. It stands almost alone on black sand above the open Atlantic, with no village around it, which is exactly what makes it worth the drive.

A church has stood here since at least around 1200, and in Catholic times it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Thomas Becket. The big Strönd farm was abandoned around 1700 as sand and the sea ate away the land, yet the parishioners refused to move their church. The current building went up in 1888 from new timber and was restored and reconsecrated in 1968 and again in 1996.

Its fame comes from a legend kept in Selvogur. A young farmer sailing home from Norway with a load of building timber was lost in a storm and vowed to give the wood to a church wherever he landed safely. An angel of light then appeared ahead of the bow and guided the ship through the reefs into a sandy cove, still called Engilsvík (Angel Cove), and the first Strandarkirkja was built from his timber.

Since the Reformation, Icelanders have made vows to Strandarkirkja, promising a gift if a prayer is answered, and the church has long been known for always providing for its own upkeep. Pledges still come in today. Services are held a few times a year, usually on a Sunday afternoon.

Strandarkirkja is about an hour and 15 minutes from Reykjavík and roughly 20 minutes west of Þorlákshöfn along Route 427, the coastal road across the south of the peninsula. There is parking by the church, and half an hour is enough for the church, the graveyard and a walk down to the shore. The drive pairs well with Seltún and Kleifarvatn to the west.