Iceland Parliament Hotel

The Alþingi (general meeting in Icelandic, [ˈalˌθiɲcɪ], anglicised as Althingi or Althing) is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at Þingvellir ("thing fields" or "assembly fields"), situated approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) east of what later became the country's capital, Reykjavík. Even after Iceland's union with Norway in 1262, the Althing still held its sessions at Þingvellir until 1800, when it was discontinued. It was restored in 1844 by royal decree and moved to Reykjavík. The restored unicameral legislature first came together in 1845 and after 1874 operated in two chambers with an additional third chamber taking on a greater role as the decades passed until 1991 when Althing became once again unicameral. The present parliament building, the Alþingishús, was built in 1881, made of hewn Icelandic stone. The unicameral parliament has 63 members, and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional representation. The current speaker of the Althing is Birgir Ármannsson. The constitution of Iceland provides for six electoral constituencies with the possibility of an increase to seven. The constituency boundaries and the number of seats allocated to each constituency are fixed by legislation. No constituency can be represented by fewer than six seats. Furthermore, each party with more than 5% of the national vote is allocated seats based on its proportion of the national vote in order that the number of members in parliament for each political party should be more or less proportional to its overall electoral support. If the number of voters represented by each member of the Althing in one constituency would be less than half of the comparable ratio in another constituency, the Icelandic National Electoral Commission is tasked with altering the allocation of seats to reduce that difference.

Alþingishúsið (Icelandic pronunciation: ​[ˈalˌθiɲcɪsˌhuːsɪθ], The Parliament House) is a classical 19th century structure which stands by Austurvöllur in central Reykjavík, Iceland. It houses Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament. The building was designed by Danish architect Ferdinand Meldahl and built using hewn dolerite from 1880 to 1881. The reliefs on the tympanums of the four outermost windows on the first floor represent the four Landvættir of Iceland: a dragon, a vulture, a giant and a bull, momentarily appeased by Ingólfur Arnarson when he first landed in Iceland. Alþingishúsið has also housed the Icelandic National Library and Antiquaries Collection, and later the Icelandic National Gallery. The University of Iceland used the first floor of the house from 1911 to 1940, and the President of Iceland had his offices in the building until 1973. Today, only the debating chamber, a few small meeting rooms and the offices of some of the senior parliamentary staff are actually located in Alþingishúsið. Committee meeting rooms, parliamentarians’ offices and most of Alþingi's secretariat are located in other buildings in the area around Austurvöllur. There are currently plans to build a new building to house these offices and meeting rooms in the area immediately to the west of Alþingishúsið, where there is today a parking lot and a few smaller buildings currently being used by Alþingi and which will be incorporated into the new building.

The Jørgen Jørgensen's Revolution (Icelandic: Bylting Jørgen Jørgensen) other spelling includes, Jørgen Jürgensen's Revolution and Jørgen Jorgenson's Revolution) was a revolution on Iceland, instituted by the Danish adventurer Jørgen Jørgensen during the Age of Revolution. His intent was to establish a liberal society in the spirit of those emerging in the Americas and Europe at the time. The events have also been referred to as the Revolution of 1809.

Austurvöllur (Icelandic pronunciation: ​[ˈœistʏrˌvœtlʏr̥]) is a public square in Reykjavík, Iceland. The square is a popular gathering place for the citizens of Reykjavík, and especially during good weather due to the prevalence of cafés on Vallarstræti and Pósthússtræti. It has also been a focal point of protests due to the close location to the Parliament of Iceland. The square contains a large statue of Jón Sigurðsson, a leader of Iceland's independence movement. Austurvöllur is surrounded by Vallarstræti, Pósthússtræti, Kirkjustræti and Thorvaldsensstræti. The latter of which is named after Bertel Thorvaldsen, a statue of whom was, for a long period of time, present in the centre of Austurvöllur, now occupied by a statue of Jón Sigurðsson. Located around the perimeter of the square are: the Alþingishúsið (Parliament House), the Dómkirkjan (the city's oldest church), the Hotel Borg, as well as numerous cafés, restaurants and bars. In the early 18th century, Austurvöllur was much larger and stretched from Aðalstræti in the west towards the creek in the east, and Aðalstræti in the north towards Tjörn in the south.

Reykjavík Cathedral (Icelandic: Dómkirkjan í Reykjavík) is a cathedral church in Reykjavík, Iceland, the seat of the Bishop of Iceland and mother church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, as well as the parish church of the old city centre and environs. It is located at Austurvöllur, and next to it is Alþingishúsið (the parliament house). Since Iceland's parliament, the Alþingi, was resurrected in 1845, each session of parliament has begun with a Mass at the cathedral, and from there the dean of the cathedral leads the members of parliament to the parliament house.

Austurstræti (Icelandic pronunciation: ​[ˈœistʏrˌstraiːtɪ], "East Street") is a street in central Reykjavík that runs from Veltusund east to Lækjargata. In its continuation is Bankastræti and Laugavegur. On the 18th of April 2007, a fire broke out in Austurstræti that destroyed two historic houses, but caused no injuries.

Reykjavík's City Hall (Icelandic pronunciation: ​[ˈrauːðˌhuːs ˈreiːcaˌviːkʏr̥]; Icelandic: Ráðhús Reykjavíkur) is situated by the Tjörnin (City Pond) in Reykjavík. It houses the offices of the mayor of Reykjavík and a large 3D map of Iceland. The city hall is sometimes used for art exhibitions, functions or live music performances. The building was constructed in 1992 following an international competition won by architects Studio Granda.

The Icelandic Ministry of Communications (Icelandic: Samgönguráðuneytið) was a cabinet-level ministry responsible for transport by land, sea and air, as well as telecommunications and postal services. Since September 2010, the minister had been Ögmundur Jónasson of the Left-Green Movement. Various organisational changes has taken effect in the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Municipal Affairs. A number of projects have been transferred to the Ministry, which has expanded its staff by 8 employees to a total of 36. The work of the Ministry covered i.a. the preparation of drafts of legislative proposals for parliamentary purposes, drafting of regulations, issue of work permits and professional licences, publication of reports and information dissemination. International co-operation is also an important feature of Ministry operations. Under the auspices of the Ministry were: The Public Road Administration (Vegagerðin), the Road Accident Analysis Group, the Icelandic Maritime Administration, the Icelandic Civil Aviation Administration, Marine Accident Investigation Board, Aircraft Accident Investigation Board, the Post and Telecom Administration, Equalization Fund, and Keflavik Airport Ltd. The Ministry was divided into four departments: The Department of Administrative and Financial Affairs The Department of Communications The Department of Municipalities and Equalization Fund The Department of TransportationIn 2011, the Ministry was merged with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to form the Ministry of Interior.

Eymundsson is Iceland's oldest bookstore, established in 1872. It operates 15 locations around Iceland and offers a wide selection of books, magazines and various gift items. Many of their storefronts also include a coffeehouse. The store offers Iceland’s largest selection of foreign books and Icelandic literature in English.

The Fríkirkjan í Reykjavík (Icelandic: The Free Church in Reykjavik) is a church which is apart from the State Church. It is an independent Lutheran Free Church of Iceland. It lies in the centre of the Icelandic capital, by the lake Tjörnin. The Fríkirkjan í Reykjavík congregation was established in Reykjavík in the autumn of 1899. It had an initial membership of 600 which soon rose. The foundation of the Free Church did not spring from any doctrinal dispute with the national Lutheran church, but arose from objections to certain aspects of the national church's organisations. The Free church followed the example of churches in Norway and those of Icelandic immigrant communities in North America, in wishing to bring the church closer to the people. The rising population of Reykjavík and the concomitant social changes also contributed. Craftsmen and tradesman were growing classes in the town, and new districts were built, and yet Reykjavík Cathedral was still the only church. Shortly after the new congregation was founded, a suitable site for a new church was chosen at the east of the lake. The church was consecrated on 22 February 1903. Only two years later the church was lengthened, to a design by architect Rögnvaldur Ólafsson. In 1924 the church was enlarged again. A chancel was built of concrete at the eastern end, and various alterations were built on either side of the forechurch, supervised by master builder Guðmundur H. Þorláksson. The pipe organ for Tim Hecker's album Ravedeath, 1972 was recorded at Fríkirkjan in July 2010.

The Settlement Exhibition Reykjavík 871±2 is an exhibition on the settlement of Reykjavík, Iceland, created by the Reykjavik City Museum. The exhibition is based on the archaeological excavation of the ruin of one of the first houses in Iceland and findings from other excavations in the city centre. The exhibition is located in 101 Reykjavík, on Aðalstræti 16, on the corner of Aðalstræti and Suðurgata. The focus of the exhibition is the remains of a hall from the Settlement Age which was excavated in 2001. The hall was inhabited from c. 930–1000. North of the hall are two pieces of turf, remnants of a wall which was clearly built before 871±2, hence the name of the exhibition. Such precise data dating is possible because a major volcanic eruption from the Torfajökull area spread tephra across the region and this can be dated via glacial ice in Greenland. The hall is among the oldest human-made structures so far found in Iceland. Also on display are objects from the Viking Age found in central Reykjavík and the island of Viðey. The exhibition is held by the City of Reykjavík and run by the Reykjavík City Museum.

The National Gallery of Iceland (Icelandic: Listasafn Íslands [ˈlɪstaˌsapn ˈistlan(t)s]) is an art museum in Reykjavík which contains a collection of Icelandic art. The gallery features artwork of famous Icelandic artists and artwork that helps explain the traditional Icelandic culture.