Víðimýrarkirkja
Víðimýrarkirkja is a small turf-walled church with black timber gables, standing in a farm field near Varmahlíð in Skagafjörður. It is one of only six historic turf churches surviving in Iceland, its curved earthen walls and grass roof built up in neat horizontal courses around a simple timber-framed nave and porch.
Region
Northwest Iceland
Coordinates
65.5388° N, 19.4704° W
Accessibility
- Wheelchair · None
- A traditional 19th-century turf building with a low timber doorway, uneven earthen floor, and no step-free entrance.
- Limited mobility · Limited
- Short grass and gravel approach from the small parking area to a low, narrow church doorway.
- Sensory · Partial
- A quiet, dim single-room interior; low ceilings and confined space may feel close for some visitors.
- Cognitive · Full
- One simple room with a straightforward, self-guided layout.
Why it matters
The present church was built in 1834 by farmer and carpenter Jón Samsonarson, using turf cut from Víðimýri's own land and driftwood timber from the Skagi peninsula, on a site that has held a church since Iceland's Christianisation around the year 1000. Slated for replacement by a concrete building in the early 20th century, it was saved through the intervention of Matthías Þórðarson, then director of the National Museum of Iceland, and has been part of the museum's Historic Buildings Collection since 1936; today it is managed by the Skagafjörður Heritage Museum.