Alþingishúsið

Iceland's parliament resolved in 1867 to mark the millennium of the country's settlement by building a stone parliament house in Reykjavík, and Danish architect Ferdinand Meldahl, director of Copenhagen's Academy of Fine Arts, designed the result, erected in 1880–81 from hewn basalt quarried at Skólavörðuholt — the same hill where Hallgrímskirkja now stands. Beyond housing the Althing, the building originally also held the National Library, the precursor to the National Museum, and the National Gallery; the University of Iceland used its first floor from 1911 to 1940, and Iceland's president kept offices there until 1973.