Holar i Hjaltadal

Holar sits at the head of a side valley in Skagafjordur and was one of the two bishops' seats in Iceland from the early twelfth century until the end of the eighteenth, which made it a centre of learning, book production and landholding rather than simply a church. The press that produced the first bible printed in Icelandic worked here. The present cathedral, built in the eighteenth century from red sandstone quarried in the mountain above, is the oldest stone church in the country: small, heavy and plain, with an older carved altarpiece inside it. Around it stand the buildings of the agricultural college that occupies the site today, a preserved turf farmhouse and the valley itself.

History

Around 1000 the Icelanders peacefully agreed that all should become Christian, and in 1106 Bishop Jón Ögmundsson founded the diocese of Hólar, the see of northern Iceland while Skálholt served the south. For almost seven centuries, until 1798, Hólar was one of the country's two main centres of learning and culture and played an important part in medieval Icelandic politics (Wikipedia, Hólar).

What to look for

• The stone cathedral - eighteenth-century red sandstone, the oldest stone church in Iceland.
• The altarpiece - a carved panel older than the building that now holds it.
• Nyibaer - the preserved turf farmhouse standing beside the site.
• The printing history - the press that produced the first bible in the Icelandic language.

When to go

June to August, when the cathedral is open, guides are on site and the college runs its summer programme. Outside that the valley can be driven into but the buildings are shut. It is a twenty-minute detour off route 76 and pairs with the Skagafjordur farmland, which stays green well into the autumn.

Before you go

The cathedral is small and plain inside by the standards of anywhere further south, and half an hour covers it. The site is now a college campus, so modern buildings sit close to the old ones and nothing about it feels preserved. Winter opening is minimal. Anyone with no interest in church history takes away the setting and little else.

Nearby

Saudarkrokur, the Skagafjordur farmland and the Trollaskagi coast road are all close.