Reykjavík Cathedral

A destructive 1785 earthquake at Skálholt, seat of Iceland's southern diocese, prompted the decision to unify the country into a single diocese based in Reykjavík, and architect Andreas J. Upcher designed the new cathedral that resulted. Building materials and six craftsmen arrived by ship from Copenhagen in autumn 1787, and the Neoclassical cathedral — marked by clean lines, a pale facade and a modest bell tower — was inaugurated in 1796. As the mother church of Iceland's Evangelical Lutheran Church and seat of the Bishop of Iceland, it remains central to the country's religious life.