News

CNN selects Reykjavík City as one of the most Christmassy destinations on the planet!

This is Reykjavík’s fifth top tourist accolade from CNN Travel, who only last month selected Reykjavík as a Top Winter Destination.  Other recent commendations range from ‘Best Travel Destination’ and ‘Europe’s Hottest Destination’ to ‘Best Christmas Holiday’.

Apart from the Christmas market, which is highlighted in the CNN article as one of the remarkable features of Reykjavík during Advent, there are also plenty of wonderful Christmas events taking place in December, such as the numerous Christmas concerts, the Lighting of the Oslo Tree and the annual hunt for those fascinating stars of Icelandic folklore, the Christmas Creatures!

The Christmas Creatures are back in town and this year we have a new addition to the family.

Leiðindaskjóða or 'Sadsack' is the little sister of the Yule Lads and is anything but sad! She's best known for the sack she carries around with her in which she collects all the hassle, stress and bad things in life. Sadsack is just one of the curious Christmas Creatures you can look-out for in this year's annual Hunt for the Christmas Creatures. You can learn more about Sadsack, the Hunt and the rest of those fascinating characters from Icelandic folklore in our brand new Christmas Creature e-booklet.

Happy Hunting! 

Video of the Christmas Creatures

On Saturday December 8th between 2.15 – 5 p.m., the yearly Peace and Multiculturalism event will take place on Viðey Island. The event is a perfect opportunity for families to enjoy a fun programme and experience togetherness in the peaceful environment of Viðey Island.

In Viðey House, Elsa Nielsen will read from her new book Brosbókin. Later, children can enjoy handicrafts and sing Christmas songs in many different languages. The café in Viðeyjarstofa will be open all day for those who want to enjoy the selection of refreshments offered. Finally, participants will take a guided walk to Yoko Ono’s magnificent Imagine Peace Tower and observe the sensational illumination process.

Programme:

2:15  The ferry sails from Skarfabakki

2:30  Gathering in Viðeyjarstofa

2:45  Elsa Nielsen reeds from the book Brosbókin (e. Smiley book)

3:15  Handicrafts and songs in different languages

4:10  Walk to Yoko Ono’s IMAGINE PEACE TOWER

4:30  Guided tour of Yoko Ono‘s work and watching the Imagine Peace Tower being lit              

4:40  Snorri Helgason performs by the IMAGINE PEACE TOWER

5:00  Departure from Viðey to Skarfabakki

The ferry departs from Skarfabakki at 1.15, 2.15 and 3.15 p.m. and from Viðey Island every hour from 1.30 until 4:30 p.m. and again at 5 p.m.

The ferry toll is kr. 1100 for adults and kr. 550 for children (7-15 years of age), free for children 6 years and younger. Participation in the event is free and everyone is welcome.

The event is a collaborative project between the Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik City Library, Viðey Island and Mother Tongue: Association on Bilingualism

Celebrate the start of Christmas and take part in a time-honoured Reykjavík tradition, with the lighting of the Oslo Christmas tree at Austurvöllur Square.

The festivities start at 15:30 with a Christmas concert by the Reykjavík Brass Band followed by a wonderful performance by Ragnhildur Gísladóttir and Sigríður Thorlacius - two of Iceland’s most remarkable chanteuses: they’ll be singing-in the Christmas season with a number of beautiful Icelandic Christmas carols.

At 16:10 Reykjavík's star mayor - Jón Gnarr - officially accepts the Oslo Christmas tree from the ambassador of Norway, and the tree is illuminated.

The lighting ceremony will be followed by more Christmas song and festivities and the crowd will be entertained further by some of Iceland’s famous Yule Lads.

Start your Christmas right here in Reykjavík this Sunday at Austurvöllur Square: from 15:30 – 17:00.

March 07.-10. 2019 heralds the start of the 8th annual Rainbow Reykjavík LGBT Winter Pride Festival in Reykjavík.

The Pride programme offers a mixture of nature, activities, culture, cuisine, music and nightlife. It starts on the 7th of March with Welcome bubbles at the Pink Iceland office followed by Queer Bingo and if we're lucky with the weather forecast there will be a hunt for the Northern Lights.  The day after guests will enjoy a LGBT guided tour around Reykjavík and then jump aboard a bus exploring the Reykjanes peninsula ending in a soak in the world famous Blue Lagoon. Optional dinner for this evening will be at Kol restaurant and from there the group walks together to Kiki Queer Bar for the 90's Glowsticks and Blue light Party. 

On the 9th of March Rainbow Reykjavík guests will enjoy a tour of the Golden Circle, followed by an optional dinner before heading-off to the Rainbow Reykjavík Masquerade Party hosted by the one and only Detox from RuPauls Drag Race. Organizers expect a crowd of up to 500 people for what has become THE club night to be seen at in Iceland. This event, as in fact all other tours and events of the festival, is open to everyone, and we encourage the local community to take part!

Extended programme is available for those who are arriving earlier and staying later. 

For more information check out: http://www.rainbowreykjavik.is/

The Reykjavík Art Museum is celebrating a landmark today, when nearly nine thousand works of art become accessible on-line on the new safneign.listasafnreykjavikur.is website.

The site provides pictures and information on works by Icelandic artists from the early twentieth century until 2013; and a map of Reykjavík provides a guide to works of art in public spaces in the city. Art historians have written informative notes on selected works in the collection.

The safneign.listasafnreykjavikur.is website makes Icelandic art more accessible, and its intention is to promote interest in this important aspect of the national heritage. It also offers a new way of enjoying art and learning about Icelandic art history.

The project has been in preparation for four years, and the website is the fruit of extensive cataloguing and development work. The website has been produced partly in collaboration with DCA (Digitising Contemporary Art), an EU project whose aim is to improve access to the European cultural heritage via the europeana.eu website.

The Reykjavík Art Museum is Iceland’s largest art collection, comprising about 17,000 works of art. In addition to the general collection of art by a large number of Icelandic and foreign artists, the Museum’s collection also includes special collections of the work of three major Icelandic artists: Erró, Kjarval, and Ásmundur Sveinsson. These collections owe their existence to generous donations of works by artists and private collectors, and also to purchase of works. The new website now displays all the Museum’s works by Icelandic artists, with the exception of some drawings in the collection.

Hafþór Yngvason, Director of the Reykjavík Art Museum:
“It is a true pleasure to be able to invite people to experience a large proportion of the works of art in the Reykjavík Art Museum’s collection, on-line. In this way the works of art had been moved outside the tangible walls of the museum, to reach out to the public. The website offers exciting potential for enjoying art and learning about it, and it can also serve as a useful teaching aid.”

Over 300 hundred guests, including many journalists and operators in the tourist industry gathered at a press event at the Icelandic embassy in Berlin last week to find out what remarkable things Iceland has to offer visitors during the winter season.

The event, which was especially organised in collaboration with Visit Reykjavik, Promote Iceland, the Icelandic Embassy in Berlin and WOW air, was presented by Ambassador Gunnar Snorri Gunnarsson and Jón Trausti Sæmundsson (marketing project manager for Visit Reykjavík) and designed to promote our winter wonders, such as the Northern Lights, our numerous and diverse winter festivals and our very curious Christmas traditions.

Performing at the event was The Berlin Cosmopolitan Children’s Choir, who serenaded guests with a selection of traditional Icelandic Christmas songs carefully combined with a number of their own classic Christmas songs. People also had the opportunity to ride an Icelandic horse, meet a few of the Icelandic Christmas Creatures and be inspired by Handverk & Hönnun’s impressive Christmas exhibition, featuring traditional Icelandic themed decorations and a special presentation of Icelandic Christmas baubles, made in order to raise money for the disabled.

The City of Reykjavík is set to receive thousands of guests who’ll be flying in from around the world to experience Iceland’s biggest music event - Iceland Airwaves.

The festival, which started as a one-off gig in an airplane hangar back in 1999: showcasing only 5 bands, is now firmly established as one of hippest events on the international music festival calendar and has the reputation of showcasing international talent and breaking new acts. Headlined by legendary German band Kraftwork, this year’s Airwaves will host over 200 bands, including 62 international bands, and around 167 from Iceland. The event is now sold-out; however those without passes can still look forward to the massive off-venue programme, which features over 600 shows at 48 off-venues across the city. 

Here's is a clip to get you in the Airwaves mood.

The official first day of winter is embraced heartily by the shop-keepers association of Skólavörðurstígur high-street, as they host their annual Meat Soup Day!

The event, which is dedicated to the memory of Jóhann G. Jóhannsson, takes place on October 26th and invites everyone to enjoy a taste of traditional and delicious Icelandic meat soup, served-up with a helping of accordion music and poetry, from 2PM onwards.

The City of Reykjavík has decided that the street lighting will be switched-off in four districts of the capital area tonight between 21:30 and 22:00 in order to give people a better look at the Northern Lights.

The districts included in the black-out are: Grafarholt, Breiðholt (Seljahverfi), Öskuhlíð and Skólavörðurholt. People are encouraged to go out and make the most of this unique opportunity to view the upcoming show of Northern Lights, which according to the aurora forecast is going to be a level 4.